148 Postelsia 
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 slightly that they have all been 
described as subspecies of the typical species, 
Taxus baccata L., the European yew. 
Taxus brevifolia, 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, abruptly mucronate, 1-5-2.5 centimeters 
long, about 1.5 millimeters wide, with slender 
petioles 1-3 millimeters long; branchlet bearing 
the pistillate flower 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-growing tree witha trunk seldom over 
eight decimeters thick, or often a large shrub of 
irregular growth. The bark of the trunk is thin 
