ENUMERATION OF CONIFERS 



185 



4. T. nucifera, Sieb. & Zucc. {Tumion nudferum, Greene). Japanese T. 

 Fig. 26. Tree usually 30 feet, but occasionally 80 feet high, with spreading 

 branches, forming a compact head, sometimes shrubby; bark grayish-brown: 

 leaves lanceolate, acuminate, rigid and spiny-pointed, very dark green above, 

 with 2 white impressed bands 

 beneath, ^-l}4 inches long and 

 ys~y& inch broad: fruit obo void- 

 oblong, about 1 inch long, 

 green, faintly tinged and striped 

 with purple. Southern and cen- 

 tral Japan. — First uitroduced 

 to England about 1764 and 

 again by Siebold in 1831 to 

 the Netherlands; to this country 

 probably about 1860. A hand- 

 some tree with dark green lustrous leaves, hardy as far north as Massachu- 

 setts. The seeds are edible; the strong and close-grained wood is durable 

 in water and is used in Japan for making water-pails and for cabinet-work. 



Torreya nucifera. 



5. TAXUS, L. YEW 



Evergreen trees or shrubs with reddish or reddish-brown scaly bark; 

 branchlets irregularly alternate; winter-buds with imbricate scales: leaves 

 linear, pale or yellowish-green beneath, usually 2-ranked, without resin- 

 ducts: flowers usually dioecious, solitary and axillary, rarely terminal, small, 

 appearing in early spring; staminate flowers forming globose stalked heads, 

 composed of 4-8 stamens each, with 3-8 anther-cells attached to the peltate 

 connective; fertile flowers consisting of a single terminal ovide with several 

 bracts at the base: seed a bony nut surrounded or almost inclosed by a 

 fleshy cup-shaped scarlet disk, cotyledons 2, green. (Taxus is the ancient 

 Latin name of the yew.) — The genus is distributed throughout the northern 

 hemisphere; in America it extends to central Mexico and in Asia to the 

 Philippines and the Malayan Archipelago. Eight species may be distinguished; 

 they are all closely related and are often considered geographical varieties 

 of a single species. 



Apparently not in cultivation are T. floridana, Chapm., from Florida, 

 T. glohosa, Schlecht., from Mexico, and T. Wallichiana, Zucc, from the 

 Himalayas and Malaysia. As an ornamental tree the yew is chiefly valued for 

 its handsome dark green foliage and the attractive scarlet berries. The wood 

 is heavy, hard, close-grained, strong, elastic, and of reddish color; it is 

 highly valued for cabinet-making and turning. The foliage is poisonous to 

 horses and cattle, but the berries are innocuous. 



