148 IP s t e I s i a 



ously on the lateral branches. About seven 

 species, inhabitants of the north temperate zone, 

 differing somewhat from one another in leaf 

 characters and considerably in habit of growth, 

 but otherwise so slightlv that thev have all been 

 described as subspecies of the typical species, 

 TaxKs buccaUi L., the European yew. 



Taxus brcvijolia, Nuttall, Sylva, 3:86.1849. 

 Yew. 



A small or moderately large tree with long, 

 slender, erect-spreading or horizontal branches; 

 leaves above dark yellowish-green, below paler, 

 linear, al)ruptly mucronate, 1.5-2.5 centimeters 

 long, about 1.5 millimeters wide, with slender 

 petioles 1-3 millimeters long; branchlet bearing 

 the pistillate ilower 3-5 millimeters long in fruit, 

 clothed with numerous very small, round-obtuse 

 scales; seed ovoid, about 5 millimeters long, 

 vaguely 2-4 angled above. Northern British 

 Columbia to central California, eastward to 

 to western Montana. 



A slow'-growung tree with a trunk seldom over 

 eight decimeters thick, or often a large shrub of 

 irregular grow'th. The bark of the trunk is thin 



