260 



CONIFERS. [ Taxus. 



yards in various parts of the country. Ft. March. I?. A low tree, 

 but with a trunk often of considerable diameter, with widely spreading 

 branches. On Benyevena, County of Derry, where Mr. Moore finds it 

 growing in the crevices of rocks, at an elevation of 1200 feet, it assumes 

 the appearance of a low shrub. He also informs me that large trunks 

 and roots are dug up in the flat of Magilligan, between the rocks and 

 the sea, which is the principal bog timber of that district. Large 

 trunks, of very great age, are also found in bogs in many parts of the 

 country. The wood is hard and beautifully veined, and much valued 

 for cabinet-makers' work, and was formerly still more highly prized for 

 making bows, and on that account is said to have been planted exten- 

 sively in church-yards. The leaves are fetid and very poisonous, and 

 prove speedily fatal to cattle accidentally eating them when young and 

 tender. The berries have a sweet mawkish taste, and may be eaten 

 without danger. The Upright or Florencecourt Yew, T.fastigiata 

 of Lindl. Syn., is a very distinct variety, if it be not a distinct species. 

 I have only seen the fertile plant, the fruit of which, as Professor Lind- 

 ley observes, is oblong (not roundish, as in the common var.) It is 

 readily distinguished by its upright mode of growth, and deep green 

 scattered leaves. The finest specimens in Ireland, or perhaps any 

 where to be met with, grow at Comber in the County of Down, and 

 near the town of Antrim, and are supposed to have been planted above 

 fifty years. It is said to have been first observed at Florenceconrt, the 

 seat of the Earl of Enniskillen, but it has not been found in a truly 

 wild state- 



