66 THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 



smoke." These little "dusty things" we recognise 

 as the anthers, and the " dustie smoke " the dispersed 

 pollen. This abundance of " dustie smoke " we may 

 see equally strikingly on shaking a festoon of stamen- 

 bearing hop. 



The fruit of the yew is a hard nut-like seed partly 

 imbedded in a pulpy and berry-like cup. This is the state 

 of things we have figured in our drawing of the yew on 

 Plate XI. This outer cup is scarlet in colour, of a curiously 

 waxy texture, mucilaginous or glutinous when compressed, 

 and rather mawkishly sweet to the taste. The fruit will 

 be found from about September onward. It may be eaten 

 in moderation without danger : missel-thrushes, blackbirds, 

 and others eagerly indulge in the feast, and wasps also 

 are very partial to it ; but with human beings it is only the 

 mucilaginous envelope that may be eaten, the central nut 

 being injurious, and in any considerable quantity deadly. 

 Gerard's use of the word acorn, it will be readily perceived, 

 was suggested by the appearance of the central nut rising 

 in the midst of its encircling cup. Wordsworth speaks 

 of the yew as "decked with unrejoicing berries." What 

 particular form of rejoicing he missed in them one hardly 

 sees, but one does see that disparagement is suggested, 

 so that this great Nature poet notwithstanding, it seems 

 about time to assert very definitely that the yew is not a 

 baleful, dismal, gloomy, cheerless, unsocial, sullen, melan- 

 choly, pensive, and funereal tree, though all these epithets 

 and many more such have been bestowed upon it, but a 

 welcome and sturdy guest, self-reliant, needing no petting, 

 asking of us no attention, and rewarding us at all times 

 with its living verdure, attractive at all times, and especially 



