Taxus 107 



immense tall tree with long sparse branches and slender drooping twigs, while at 

 Choongtam (5000-6000 feet altitude) it is small and rigid, much resembling in 

 appearance our churchyard yew. The red bark is used as a dye and for staining 

 the foreheads of Brahmins in Nepaul. 



There is a specimen at Kew, collected by Sir George Watt in Manipur, which 

 bore yellow berries. 



In the United States' there are a number of large European yew trees in New 

 York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, showing that the tree must have been brought 

 to the eastern United States more than a century ago. Sargent says that every- 

 where south of Cape Cod it appears to be perfectly hardy. Farther east it suffers 

 from the cold in severe winters, and cannot be considered a desirable tree for general 

 planting in eastern New England. T. D. Hatfield,^ writing from Wellesley in 

 Massachusetts, states that the variegated form of the common yew is hardy in places 

 where the green type perishes. 



II. Japanese Yew, var. cuspidata. Ichii in Japan, Onko of the Ainos in 

 Hokkaido. Though Sargent says ' that, judging from his observations, it is 

 confined to the island of Yezo, it is stated in the Forestry of Japan, p. 88, that 

 it is found also in Kiso and Nikko, and it was included in the list of trees growing 

 wild in the royal forest of Kiso, though I did not see it myself. In Nikko it is 

 planted in the temple gardens ; a fine specimen, of which I give an illustration taken at 

 this place (Plate 53), shows how much it resembles our yew in habit and appearance. 

 This tree was about 40 feet high by 12 in girth. In the Hokkaido it grows scattered 

 through the lowland and hill forests, among deciduous trees and conifers, but 

 nowhere, so far as I saw, gregariously, and attains a large size, trees of 50-60 feet 

 high with clear trunks 2-3 feet in diameter being not very rare. It sometimes 

 produces beautifully veined burrs, and when old is often rotten inside. 



It is a favourite in gardens in Hokkaido, as trees of considerable size can 

 be moved without killing them. The wood, which seems milder, sounder, and 

 more free from holes and flaws than in England, is much used by the Japanese for 

 water-tanks, pails, and baths, and is cut into handsome trays, sometimes carved, 

 which I bought quite cheaply in Sapporo. I also procured large planks and slabs 

 of it, measuring as much as 26 inches wide, and quite sound, such as I have 

 never been able to get from English yews. Chopsticks, clogs, and the Aino bows 

 are also made of yew wood, and when cut into thin shavings very pretty braid is 

 made from it. 



I was informed by Mr. N. Masaki of the Imperial Art School in Tokyo, 

 that the semifossil wood known at Sendai as Gindai-boku is dug from the bed of 

 the Natonigawa river, near which deposits of lignite are found. This wood was 

 believed by the carvers at Nikko to be fossil Cryptomeria wood, but is so like the 

 bog yew found in Great Britain in grain and colour that I have little doubt that 

 it is yew. This wood is only procured in small pieces of irregular shape, the largest 

 that I saw being made into a tray about 20 inches square. It is very hard, of 



' Garden and Forest, 1897, P- 40o. Large trees also occur at Washington, loc. cit. 1896, p. 261. * Ibid. p. 405. 



^ Forest Flora of Japan, p. 76. 



