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naked, drupaceous or with a hard testa sur- 

 rounded by a more or less free, cup-like, fleshy 

 aril. 



A family comprising about ten genera and 

 one hundred species, mostly inhabitants of the 

 southern hemisphere, and of southeastern Asia 

 and the adjacent islands. Besides the following, 

 only the closely allied genus, Torreya, occurs in 

 extra-tropical North America. 



Taxus Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 1040. 1753. 



Flowers dioecious, the staminate solitary, 

 axillary, short-stalked, wath basal scales; stamens 

 six to fourteen, peltate, each with six to eight 

 coherent pollen sacs. Pistillate flower in the 

 axil of the uppermost scale of a short scale- 

 bearing, axillary branchlet, solitary, consisting 

 of an axis bearing three pairs of decussate in- 

 volucrate scales, and a single terminal, erect, 

 naked ovule sessile upon an annular accrescent 

 disc which in fruit becomes a fleshy cup-shaped 

 aril nearly inclosing the woody seed. 



Evergreen trees or shrubs with spirally in- 

 serted short-petioled, flat, linear leaves, which by 

 the twisting of the petioles come to lie distich- 



