HARDY CONIFEROUS TREES 39 



CEPHALOTAXUS, Siehold et Zuccarini 

 THE CHINESE AND JAPANESE YEWS 



Flowers dioecious, in globular heads. 



Fruits several, drupaceous. 



Seed solitary, almond-like, with no true aril, enclosed in 

 the fleshy cup. 



Leaves linear, alternate, in two rows. 



Evergreen trees or shrubs, with the leaves arranged 

 alternately in two rows. Natives of China and Japan. 



CEPHALOTAXUS DRUPACEA, Siehold et Zuccarini, 

 Plum-fniited Cephalotaxus. Japan. About 1829. 

 — This is here seen as a low shrub, of rather 

 irregular growth, with flattened, horizontally 

 arranged branches, and short, stiff branchlets. 

 The leaves, which are arranged in two opposite 

 rows on the upper sides of the branches, are, 

 particularly towards the branch tips, upturned, or 

 so nearly erect that they form a triangular-shaped 

 trough. Towards the branch extremities the 

 leaves are i J inches long, about half that nearer the 

 stem, distinctly keeled, and of a deep green above, 

 and with tw^o broad silvery bands on the under 

 side. For nearly the entire length they are one- 

 eighth of an inch wide, and abruptly pointed. The 

 damson-like fruit, produced usually in threes on the 

 under sides of the branches, are ovoid in shape, but 

 much narrowed at the base, about ij inches long 

 by three-quarters of an inch in greatest diameter, 

 and placed on short, stout footstalks. Each berry 

 contains a sohtary hard-shelled, nut-like seed, about 

 three-quarters of an inch long, enclosing an almond- 

 hke kernel. The smell emitted by the fruit w^hen 

 bruised is highly offensive, resembling that of 



