66 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. TAXACEZ. 
many thin obscure medullary rays. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.6391, a cubic 
foot weighing 39.83 pounds.’ It is used for fence-posts and by the Indians of the northwest coast for 
paddles, spear-handles, bows, fish-hooks, and other small articles. 
Taxus brevifolia was discovered on the lower Columbia River by David Douglas*® in 1825, and 
was introduced in 1854 by Mr. William Lobb into European gardens, where it is occasionally 
cultivated. 
1 The log specimen in the Jesup Collection of North American eighteen inches and three quarters in diameter inside the bark, and 
Woods in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, is shows one hundred and eighty-seven layers of annual growth. 
2 See ii. 94. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
Puate DXIV. Taxus BREVIFOLIA. 
. A flowering branch of the staminate tree, natural size. 
. A staminate flower, enlarged. 
A stamen, enlarged. 
A stamen, seen from below, enlarged. 
. A flowering branch of the pistillate tree, natural size. 
. Diagram of a pistillate flower. 
. A pistillate flower with its scales, enlarged. 
. Vertical section of a pistillate flower, enlarged. 
OWMDADATPE WD 
. A fruiting branch, natural size. 
. A fruit, enlarged. 
. A fruit divided transversely, enlarged. 
Se ee 
wpoeFH © 
. Vertical section of a fruit, enlarged. 
. A seed, enlarged. 
. An embryo, much magnified. 
nt pk be 
Oo ye OO 
. A winter-bud, enlarged. 
