386 THE BOOK OF EVERGREENS. 



high, and forming a round-headed, small, compact tree. 

 According to Dr. Torrey, this species was " first made 

 known to North American botanists by the late Mr. Shel- 

 ton, who travelled extensively in California," and was 

 afterwards described by Sir Wm. Hooker under the title 

 of T. myrutica, in the Botanical Magazine. Dr. Bigelow 

 states : " This tree grows from 40 to 50 feet high, with 

 very slender, drooping branches, and a thin, light foliage. 

 The bark is smooth, somewhat resembling that of the 

 common White Mulberry, and the wood hard and firm." 

 In England it has proven quite hardy, and we await with 

 some anxiety its trial in this country. We have a speci- 

 men, two feet high, that has hitherto been wintered in a 

 cold frame, but which is now in the open ground for the 

 first time. Other cultivators are also experimenting with 

 it, and we shall soon be able to report on its ability to 

 stand our climate. Its beauty cannot be called in ques- 

 tion, as its charming foliage, its peculiar habit of growth, 

 and arrangement of branches, fully entitle it to be consid- 

 ered as a great desideratum. 



It is emphatically a plant to be seen, and not handled, 

 as it possesses in an eminent degree the unpleasant odor 

 peculiar to the genus, and which has obtained for it in its 

 native country the significant but inelegant appellation 

 of the " Stinking Yew." 



2. T. nucifera, Zuecarmi. NUT-BEARING TORREYA. 

 Leaves from 1 to If inch long, linear, mostly distichous, 

 scattered on the young shoots, coriaceous, flat, short-pe- 

 duncled, sharply-mucronate, dark glossy green color. 

 Branches, numerous, spreading, with scaly bark. Fruit, 

 f- of an inch long, -|- of an inch broad, oval or ovate-oblong, 

 with a smooth, glossy, thin, green covering, and hard, bony 

 seed. 



A native of the northern portions of Japan, but is cul- 

 tivated in all parts of that country, and, according to 

 Kaempfer, is a lofty tree, with many opposite, scaly 



