PLANTS. 335 



reaches, in the space of eighty or one hundred years, a 

 height of many feet. This pine affords a fine-grained 

 resinous timber of much durability and strength ; affords 

 turpentine equally with the fir, and on account of its 

 handsome pyramidal form is often cultivated as an orna- 

 ment. 



The Noble Pine Balsam Fir (Pinus picea). Leaves 

 sub-secund (on each side like the teeth of a comb) emar- 

 ginate ; flat, obtuse, with two white stripes on the under 

 side. Cones erect, cylindrical; scales and bracts obo- 

 vate, tipped with an abrupt slender point ; scales and 

 seeds falling from the axis at maturity. The bark of the 

 trunk is whitish, scales off in thin flakes when the tree 

 is old. Called in America, Canada Balsam or Balm of 

 Gilead Fir, in Europe, Silver Fir. This beautiful tree, 

 which in Europe reaches to a height of one hundred and 

 twenty feet, abounds in Germany ; found mostly in the 

 mountain regions, where dark and extensive forests are 

 composed of it, as, for instance, the Black Forest. The 

 wood, tougher and more elastic than that of the common 

 pine, is preferable for building purposes not so good 

 for fuel. The resin it exudes is known in Germany as 

 Strasburg Turpentine, in United States, Canada Balsam. 



The Yew Tree (Taxus baccata), Tourne. Leaves 

 evergreen, small, flat ; fruit red and berry-like, without 

 stalks. This handsome tree grows wild in southern Eu- 

 rope, but is often transplanted in the north. Grows forty 

 feet high in its native soil ; wood, hard and reddish, is 

 good for carved work ; was formerly employed for mak- 

 ing bows, hence its classical name from taxon, an arrow.* 



* Arrows were formerly poisoned with the juice of the yew treo 

 Tr. 



