116 HARDY CONIFEROUS TREES. 



species are growing side by side that the differences can best 

 be detected, and this is markedly the case both at Penrhyn 

 Castle, North Wales, and Holwood Park, in Kent. 



TAXUS (Linnaeus). 

 THE YEWS. 



Flowers usually dioecious ; stamens in stalked heads ; 

 anther scales peltate. 



Fruit solitary, one-seeded. 



Seed erect, and borne in a fleshy open cup. 



Leaves two-ranked, linear, and decurrent. 



Cotyledons two, flat and leafy. 



Evergreen trees or shrubs, with two-ranked leaves, and the 

 seed borne in a fleshy cup or aril. 



Ta.XUS ba.CCa.ta., Linnaeus. The Yew. Europe and 

 Northern Asia, Britain. — This is a native tree, of about 40 feet 

 in height, with a short, thick, and deeply-fluted stem, and a 

 spread of branches often exceeding the height. It is a very 

 accommodating tree, unusually large specimens being found 

 growing where hardly a couple of inches of loam overlies the 

 chalk formation, on rocky soils, shingly gravel, but best of all 

 on good, sound, dampish loam, and on which latter it attains 

 to largest dimensions. In the formation of evergreen hedges 

 or for planting beneath the shade and drip of larger growing 

 trees, the common yew is of particular value, and notwith- 

 standing its rather gloomy appearance, is at the same time a 

 decidedly ornamental evergreen tree, and one that imparts a 

 rich and warm aspect to the landscape wherever it is used. 

 Being of unusually slow growth, the annual layers of wood 

 are comparatively thin and closely arranged, thus rendering 

 the graining remarkably fine, which, coupled with the deep 

 reddish tint of the wood, causes it to be largely employed for 

 constructive purposes. When grown in the open, the tree is 

 usually well furnished with branches almost to ground level, 

 the branches being much sub-divided, and the ramifications 



