TAX 



short : anther cylindric, tubulsr, length of the 

 coi'ollet, tailed at the l>ase: the pistilkmi is a 

 superior germ, oblong : style twice as long as 

 the flower: stigmas two, gaping: there is no 

 pericarpium : talvx unchanged : the seeds soli- 

 tary, oblong: down hairy, investing the seed 

 ail round:' the receptacle hairy, very Pinall, 

 hairs length of the calyx. 



The species cullivated is T. campkoratiiSj 

 Shrubby Alrican Fleabane. 



It has a stronsT woody stem, rising to the 

 height of twelve or fourteen feet, sending out 

 many woodv branches at the lop, whi^h may be 

 trained to a regular head: the leaves are in shape 

 like those of the Broad leaved Sallow, having a 

 downy surface like Sage, and iheir under sides 

 white ; in smell they reseirible Rosemary leaves 

 when bruised : the flowers arc produced in spikes 

 at the extremity of the shoots, but, being of a 

 dull purple colour, do not make much show : 

 they appear in autumn, and continue great 

 part of the winter. It retains its leaves all the 

 year, and is a native of the Cape. 



CAtlture. — This plant may be increased by 

 cuttings, which i^hould be planted out in the 

 spring or early summer seasons in pots filled 

 with light mould, giving thein shade and water 

 occasionally. They soon strike root, and in three 

 or four months may be potted oft' into separate 

 pots, afibrding them shade and water as before, 

 and placinii them under shelter. They also 

 strike root in the summer season when planted 

 in a common border and covered with hand- 

 glasses, and may in these cases be potted off" in 

 the autumn. 



They afterwards require the management of 

 other hardy green-house plants. 



They afford variety in these situations. 



TARRAGON. See Artemisia. 



TxAXUS, a genus furnishing a plant of the 

 liardy evergreen tree kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Dioecia Mo- 

 vadelphia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Crmiferce. 



The characters are: that in the male there is 

 no calyx, except a bud like a four-leaved peri- 

 anth: corolla none: the stamina have numerous 

 lilaments, united at bottom into a coluiTm, 

 longer than the bud : anthers depressed, blunt 

 at the cdsre, eight-cleft, gaping every way at 

 the base, and, when they have discharged their 

 pollen, flat, peltate, and remarkable for their 

 eight-cleft margin : female — the calyx as in the 

 male: corolla Hone : the pistilk:m is an ovate- 

 acuminate germ : style none : stigma obtuse: the 

 pericarpium is a berry from the receptacle, elon- 

 gated into a prspputium globular, succulent, gap- 

 ^ Vol.. II. 



TAX 



ing at the top, coloured, at length wasting fron'i 

 divness, and evanescent : tb.e seed one, ovate-" 

 oblong, prominent at the top, beyond tlic berry. 



The species cultivated is T. huccula, Com- 

 mon Yew-trcc. 



It has a straight trunk, with a smooth deci- 

 duous bark : the%vood very hard, tough, and of 

 a fine grain: the leaves thickly set, hnear, 

 smootli, evergiL'cn: the fl.jwers axillary, en- 

 veloped with imbricate bractes : the male on one 

 tree, sulphur-colouicd, without a calyx ; the 

 female on another, with a small green calyx; 

 snsiainiiig the oval fiattish seed ; which calyx at 

 Icnylh becomes red, soft, and full of a sweet 

 slimy pulp. It is a native of Europe, North 

 AiTterica, 8cc. 



it varies with very short leaves, with broad 

 shining leaves, and with striped or variegated 

 leavc-i. 



Culture. — In this tree the increase may be 

 effected by seeds, and sometimes by layers and 

 cuttings. 



After having procured a quantity of the Yew 

 berries, and divested them of the pulp or mucilage, 

 they should be sown in beds of light earth, eithef 

 in shallow drills, or scattered over the surface, 

 in the autu-.un or spring season (but the former 

 is the best method, as the plants rise in the fol- 

 lowing spring) , and be covered near an inch deep 

 with hght mould, out of the alleys, &c. They re- 

 quire IK) further care, only to keep the beds clean 

 from weeds before and after the plants come up, 

 and to give occasional waterings in dry weather, 

 in spring and sunnner, to forward and strengthen 

 the plants' in tlieir growth. They should have 

 two years' growth in the seed-bed; then in the 

 autumn or spring be planted out upon four- feet- 

 wide beds, in nursery-rows, a foot asunder, to 

 remain two, three, or four years, when some 

 may be planted out finally for hedges, whCre 

 required; others in the nursery quarters, in 

 rows, two or three feet asunder, to be trained 

 in a suitable manner for the purposes they are 

 intended. 



After growing in the nursery till they obtain 

 from half a yard to four or five feet stature, they 

 may be finally planted out in autumn or spring,' 

 for their intended piu-poses ; when they will rise 

 with [a latije spread of roots. They should be 

 planted in their places as soon after reimoval as 

 possible, giving each plant a good vtatering at 

 the time. 



In the future culture, tho>e trained in hedges, 

 &c. must be clipped annually, once or twice in 

 the suinmer ; and those in the shrubberies and 

 rural plantations have the lower branches pruned 

 up occasionally to a single stem ; but the head 

 3 N 



