26o TAXACEiE 



opinions upon the subject have been, and will be 

 again, often and unreservedly expressed in divers 

 directions, by many observers, on many occasions, 

 as opportunities arise. And these seem all-sufficient 

 reasons that we should quit the subject here. 



(i) PRUMNOPITYS, AND (2) SAXEGOTHEA 

 CONSPICUA 



(Of the natural order CONIFER^E, of the 



FAMILY TAXACEiE, OF THE TRIBE TAXINE^, 

 OF THE SUB-TRIBE PODOCARPEiE) 



The first-named of these two representatives of the 

 sub-tribe Podocarpese is another of the Greek built-up 

 words that calls for effort of pronunciation in 

 speech, and scholarship to construe. It is a word — 

 qua word — that, if you wish to effect a clear pro- 

 nunciation of, suggests the desirability of following 

 the footsteps of the Athenian orator Demosthenes 

 to the seashore, and there practising utterance of it, 

 pebble in mouth, before the roar of the sea. Nothing 

 but the direst necessity of words could have been 

 accountable for the invention of such a name. 



It is derived from the Greek words irpovfivov (wild 

 plum), TTtru? (pine). The word irevKr), be it remem- 

 bered, applies to the Spruce Fir (Picea), not to the 

 Pine. Its claim to individuality is that, though it 

 is nearly allied to the Podocarpus, its peduncle (the 

 stalk of its fruit) does not become fleshy, while its 

 bud scales are valvate (open at the edges), and not 

 imbricated (overlapping). Its fruit is a stone con- 

 tained in a thin layer of fleshy covering (but without 

 a fleshy peduncle) about i or f in. long, and a little 

 less wide. It has the appearance of a wild damson. 



Its shorter leaves are very densely and spirally 

 inserted, but thrown into rather an irregular-looking 



