198 The Flora of Wiltshire. 
a small tree. Leaves obovate, or orbicular. Male catkins drooping, 
about 2 incheslong. Female flowers in ovoid buds. Stigmas bright 
crimson. After flowering the minute inner bracts enlarge very 
rapidly, so as to form the leafy involucre, commonly called the husk 
of the nut. | 
Carpinus, (Liny.) Hornpeam. 
Linn. Cl. xxi. Ord. vii. 
Named from car, wood, and pin, a head, in Celtic; the wood 
having been employed to make yokes for oxen. The English “orn- 
beam’’ has the same signification. 
1. C. detudus, (Linn.) common Hornbeam. Fngl, Bot. t. 2032. 
Locality. In woods and hedges, on a meagre, damp, tenaceous 
soil. Zree Fl. May. Area, 1.2.38.4.5. In all the Districts, but 
perhaps not truly wild. Rather a small tree, with somewhat the 
habit of an ed/m. Leaves stalked, ovate, acute, of which the veins 
are somewhat hairy, and which are beautifully plaited when young. 
Male catkins sessile, about 14 inches long female catkins slender, 
the fruiting ones often several inches long, and conspicuous for their 
long, leaf-like bracts. Nut small, ovoid, with prominent ribs. The 
wood of this tree is very tough and hard, and applicable to various 
. purposes, it is much employed in the county in the construction of 
agricultural implements. 
ORDER CONIFER. 
Taxus, (Linn.) YrEw. 
Linn. Cl. xii. Ord. vi. (Juss.) 
Name. From toxon, Gr., a bow; it being long celebrated as the 
best material for making those formidable implements. 
1. T. daccata, (Linn.) berried Yew. Common Yew. ngl. Bot. 
t. 746, 
Locality. Mountainous woods, and limestone cliffs. Tree Fi. 
March, April. Area, 1. 2.3.4.5. In all the Districts apparently 
indigenous, though having been much planted in early times. <A 
1¢¢ Kugh-trees grow wild about Winuterslow. Between Knighton Ashes and 
Downton the ground produces them all along ; but at Newton they are a wood. 
At Ewbridge in the parish of Colern, in North Wilts, they also grow indifferently 
plentifull ; and in the parish of Kington St. Michael, I remember three or four 
in the stone brash and red earth,”—Aubrey, Nat, Hist, Wilts, 
