TAXODIUM TAXUS 579 



seen are (or were) in Whitton Park, Hounslow, one of which a few years 

 ago was no ft. high. This grew by the side of the pond, and there 

 is no doubt such a spot is best for the tree. There are some fine 

 examples at Syon, from one of which the sprays of male racemes here 

 figured were taken. In these flowering sprays, it will be noticed, the 

 leaves are always spirally arranged. 



Var. PENDULUM (T. dist. var. imbricarium, Sargent ; Glyptostrobus 

 pendulus, Endlicher, Bot. Mag., t. 5603). A smaller tree than the type; the 

 leaves smaller, never in two opposite rows, but always spirally arranged or 

 more or less flattened to the twig, sometimes scale-like. According to 

 Sargent, it is not rare in a wild state. This variety is sometimes grown as 

 " Glyptostrobus heterophyllus," but the true plant of that name, closely allied 

 and very similar to the Taxodium, is a native of China. 



T. MUCRONATUM, Tenore, has several times been introduced to Kew, but 

 is not hardy. It is very similar to T. distichum, and is perhaps only a 

 geographical form of it. Native of Mexico. 



TAXUS. YEW. TAXACE^E. 



The six or seven reputed species that make up this genus have, by 

 more than one authority, been regarded as but geographical variations of 

 a single one. The type of the genus is T. baccata, and the others do not 

 differ from it in fruit, only in characters of bud, leaf, and habit. It is for 

 garden purposes more convenient to avoid the cumbersome varietal 

 designations, and adopt simple specific names. The generic characters 

 of flower and fruit will be found under the notice of the common yew. 

 Yew timber possesses remarkable strength and durability, and was once 

 highly valued in this country, especially for indoor use (furniture, etc.); 

 it is also very resistent to decay from wet out-of-doors. 



T. BACCATA, Linnceus. COMMON YEW. 



A tree 30 to 40, rarely 50 or 60 ft. high, forming in age a short, enormously 

 thick trunk, clothed with red-brown peeling bark, and crowned with a rounded 

 or wide-spreading head of branches. Leaves spirally attached to the twigs, 

 but by the twisting of the stalks brought more or less into two opposed 

 ranks ; they are of a dark, glossy, almost black-green above, grey, pale 

 green or sometimes yellowish beneath, the stomatic lines indistinct; linear, 

 \ to \\ ins. long, ^ to ^ in. wide; more gradually tapered to a fine point 

 than any other of the species here mentioned. Flowers unisexual, with the 

 sexes almost invariably on separate trees, produced in spring from the leaf- 

 axils of the preceding summer's twigs. Male a globose cluster of stamens; 

 female borne close to the end of the shoot, and consisting of an ovule surrounded 

 by small bracts. What is usually termed the " fruit " is a fleshy cup developed 

 from a disk in which the ovule is set. This cup is bright red (sometimes 

 yellow), juicy, and encloses the se,ed. 



Native of Europe (including Britain), N. Africa, and W. Asia. No tree 

 has become more woven into the history and folk-lore of Great Britain than 

 the yew. All through the Middle Ages and until gunpowder came into 

 general use, yew wood was more valued than any other for the manufacture 

 of bows, long the national weapon of offence. In earlier ages still, before 



