114 TYPES OF BRITISH PLANTS 
So much they have in common. We may now con- 
sider the chief features of the groups into which they are 
divided, and the first group seems, on a superficial exam- 
ination, to lack some of the true characteristics. This 
is the well-known Yew tree, the dark green foliage and 
juicy crimson berries of which are a conspicuous object 
everywhere. It must be confessed that, as a cone, the ripe 
fruit is rather a failure, but the method of branching and 
the long thin leaves bear witness to the family 
relationship ; and if you examined the tree in 
the flowering season you would have no hesita- 
tion in what class to put it. The staminal 
flowers and the female flowers are then both 
of the cone type. The first are roundish, and 
the stamen tops expand into a hard, woody 
shield, with wrinkled edges, sheltering the precious anthers 
until they are ripe for the pollen to go on the breeze. Then 
the shields separate, and through the cracks the pollen dust 
escapes. If, however, rain should come on, the shields 
expand again, and the pollen is protected. The female 
cone has the peculiarity of containing only one seed, 
and the micropyle hardly deserves its name, for the 
opening is quite wide. A section of the unripe cone 
will give you an idea of the arrangement of the scales. 
As the seed ripens the envelope becomes red and juicy, 
and the bracts that, in an ordinary cone, are so well 
marked, sink into a little scaly cup at its base. 
Nowadays the yew is, like modern archery, purely 
ornamental, but when the bow was the national English 
weapon, winning battles at Falkirk against the Scotch, 
and at Creey against the French, the growth of the yew 
was a matter of great public interest, for no other wood 
could compare with it in the making of bow-staves. It 
YEW SEED. 
