GG4 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



valuable for ship-builcling. Other species, as D. iaxifolium, the Kakatcrro 

 of New Zealand, and D. cupressinum, the Dimon Pine, are also valuable 

 timber trees. 



Podocarpus Totarra and some other New Zealand species are valuable 

 timber trees. 



Taxus baccafa, the Common Yew, produces extremely durable and valu- 

 able timber. Its leaves and young branches act as narcotico -acrid poisons, 

 both to the human subject and other animals. It is said that animals 

 may feed upon the young growing shoots with impimity, but that when 

 these have been cut oif , and left upon the ground for a short time, they are 

 then poisonous. This notion is altogether erroneous, for the shoots are 

 poisonous in all conditions. We believe that the pulp surrounding the seed 

 is harmless, but that the seed itself is poisonous. Yew leaves and seeds 

 (betries) have been given medicinally for their emmenagogue, sedative, 

 and anti-spasmodic effects. According to Dr. Taylor, "Yew-tree tea" is 

 sometimes taken to cause abortion. 



Natural Order 240. Gnetaceje. — The Jointed Fir Order. — 

 Character. — Small trees or shrubs, with jointed stems and 

 branches. Leaves opposite, entire, net-veined, sometimes small 

 and scale-like. Flowers unisexual, in catkins or heads. Male 

 flowers with a 1 -leaved calyx; anthers 1 -celled (2 — 3?), with 

 porous dehiscence. Female flower naked or surrounded by 1 

 or 2 scales ; ovules 1 — 2 naked, pointed by a style-like process. 

 Seed succulent ; embryo dicotyledonous, in the axis of fleshy 

 albumen. 



Bistrihition, ^-c. — The plants of this order occur in both 

 tropical and temperate regions. There are 3 genera — Ephedra, 

 Welwitschia, and Gnetum, and about 30 species. 



Properties and Uses. — Unimportant. The seeds and leaves 

 of some species are eaten. Some species of Ephedra are 

 astringent. 



Natural Order 241. Cycadaceje. — The Cycas Order. — 

 Character.— Small palm-like tmbranched trees or shrubs, or 

 occasionally dichotomous, with their surface marked by the 

 scars of fallen leaves. Leaves clustered at the summit, pinnate, 

 parallel-veined, hard and woody ; leaflets sometimes circinate in 

 vernation. Flowers quite naked, unisexual, dioecious. Male 

 flowers in cones, consisting of scales, from the under surface of 

 which 1 -celled anthers arise. Female flowers coiisisting of naked 

 ovules placed on the margins of altered leaves, or of ovules arising 

 from the base of flat scales or from the under surface of peltate 

 ones. Seeds hard or succulent, with 1 or several embryos con- 

 tained in fleshy or mealy albumen. 



Bistrihition, ^'c. — Natives principally of the temperate and 

 tropical parts of America and Asia; and occasionally at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar, and Australia. Examples of 

 the Genera : — Cycas, Dion, Zamia. There are about 50 species. 



Properties and Uses. — The stems and seeds of the plants of 

 this order yield mucilage and starch. 



Cycas.— Frova the stems of Cycas circinalis and C. revohita a starch may 

 be obtained. Of this a kind of tago is prepared ; that from C. revoluta is 



