2066 



AUBORrTUM AND FKUTI CKll M. 



Genus I. 



I'ART III. 



T'A'XUS L. The Yew. Lin. Syst. Dioe'cia Monadelphia. 



Identijication. Lin. Gen., 532. ; Juss, 412. ; Fl. Br.; 1086. ; Tourn., t. 362. ; Lam., t. 829. ; Gaertn. 

 t. 81. ; N. Du Ham., \. p. 61.; Rich. Mem. Conif., p. 131. t. 2. 



Derivation. From ioion, a bow ; being formerly much used in making them : or from tails, ar- 

 rangement ; from the leaves being arranged on the branches like the teeth of a comb : or from 

 toxicum, poison ; though Pliny says that poison [toj-iciivt) was so named from this tree, which wa.* 

 considered poisonous. The derivation of the term Yew is supposed to be from the Celtic word iw, 

 sometimes pronounced ;/, and signifying verdure ; alluding to the yew being an evergreen; and 

 this will also explain the French name, //. 



Description, 4'C' Evergreen low trees, with numerous, mostly linear, and 

 entire leaves ; natives of Europe and North America. 



t \. T. bacca'^ta L The berried, or common. Yew 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PI, 1472. ; WiUd. Sp., 4. p. 8j6. ; Fl. Br., 1086. ; Eng. Bot., t. 746. ; Hook. 

 Scot 290.'- Lightf., 626. ; Fl. Dan., t. 124<). ; Bull. Fr., 1. 136. ; Dicks. H. .Sice. Fasc, 16. 6. ; Ehrh. 

 Arb.'sO. ;'n. Du Ham., 1. p. 62. ; Eng. Fl., 4. p. 252. ; Hook. Br. Fl., p. 434. ; Mackay Fl. Hibern. 

 p. 259. ; Lincil. Synops., p. 241. 



Synnnymcs. Taxus, No. 1663., Hall. Hist., 2. p. 322., Rati Svn., 44,'j., Ger. P.m., 1310., Bauh. 

 Hist., 1. p 241., Matlh. Valgr., 2. p. 44+., Cam. Epit., 840. ; If, Fr. ; Ifenbaum, Ihenbaum, or 

 Eihenbaum'Gcr. ; Taxo, Ital. ; Texo Span. 



The Sexes. The yew being almost always raised from seed, the male and female plants may be sup- 

 posed to be nearly equally distributed, both in natural woods and in artificial plantations. Ac- 

 cording toJIiller and Lamarck, both sexes are sometimes found on the same tree ; and the fact will 

 be found confirmed in a future page. As far as we have been able to ob.serve, says White of Sel- 

 liorne the male tree becomes much larger than the female one. {Nat. Hist, of Selb., ed. 1789.) 



Eneravines Eng Hot., t. 746. ; Fl. Dan., t. 1240. ; Bull. Fr., 1. 136. ; Ger. Emac, 1370. f. ; Bauh. 

 Hist 1 p 241 f. ; Matth. Valgr,, 2. p. 444. f. ; Cam. Epit., p. 840. f. ; N. Du Ham., 1. t. 19. ; 

 Blacicw., t. .572. ; Du Ham. Arb., 2. t. 86. : Oelhaf. Abbild., t.23, 24. ; Ga;rtn. Fruct, t. 91. f. 6 ; 

 and the'plates of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., S,-c. Leaves •2-ranked, crowded, linear, flat. Receptacle of the 

 barren flowers globular. {Smith Eng, F/.) A tree, indigenous to most 

 parts of Europe ; flowering in March and April, and ripening its fruit in 

 September. 



Varieties. 



I T. 6. 2 fastigidta ; T. fastigiata Lindl. ; T. hibernica Hook., Lodd. Cat., 

 ed. 1836 ; our fig. 1981. of the natural size, and the plate of this tree 

 in our last Volume. The upright, or ^^^ ^ 



Florence Court, Yew; the Irish Yew. ^^K/fj /0 



— This is a very distinct variety, readily 

 distinguished from the si)ecies by its 

 upright mode of growtii, and deep 

 green leaves, which are not in ranks 

 like those of the common yew, but 

 scattered, as shown in fig. 1981. All 

 the plants of this variety in cultivation 

 arc of the female sex ; and the fruit 

 is oblong, and not roundish, as in the ^ 



common variety. The finest speci- .^ 

 mens, Mr. Mackay informs us (7^/. 



Iltlwin., [). 2()0.), grow at Comber, in ■ r-- A 



the county of I3own, and near the ' ."-^^^ 



town of Antrim; where they are su|)- ^^ -, 



posed to have been planted before ^ r ^^^ 

 1 780. Tills variety was first observed 'V) 



at Florence Court, near which, on the . ," , 



mountains of Fermanagh, our corre- ^v' \^^ , 



spondent Mr. Young informs us, the v 

 original tree still exists in a healthy and V; 



vigorous state. /''/>'. 1982., to a scale "sjj 



of 1 in. to 1 2 ft., is a portrait of one of m » 

 the trees at (.'omber, which grows in 'j I98( 





