THE COMMON YEW 



sider all to belong to one species. Under cultivation, 

 however, they behave differently, especially in de- 

 grees of hardiness, and there are other and more 

 subtle points of difference which merit recognition. 

 The Arnold Arboretum recognizes eight species with 

 many varieties and forms and, from the garden view- 

 point at any rate, this classification is the most satis- 

 factory. 



In this continent are found four species — the 

 Canadian Yew (Taxus canadensis) which is common 

 in swampy woods and thickets from Newfoundland 

 and Nova Scotia, through Canada to the northern 

 shores of Lake Superior and to Lake Winnipeg, and 

 southward to Minnesota in the west and to New Jersey 

 in the east; the Western Yew (T. brevijolia) is wide- 

 spread, but not common, from the Rocky Mountains 

 in Montana to the Pacific, from Queen Charlotte's Is- 

 land in the north to the Bay of Monterey in California, 

 but is abundant on the Selkirk Mountains in British 

 Columbia up to 4,000 feet altitude, and on the western 

 slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to 8,000 feet altitude; 

 the Mexican Yew (7. globosa), a little-known species 

 which grows on the mountains of south Mexico; 

 and the Florida Yew (7\ floridana), native of a re- 

 stricted area extending some thirty miles along the 

 eastern bank of the Apalachicola River in western 

 Florida. In Asia grow four species — the Japanese 

 107 



