42 BULLETIN 680, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



distinguish and to give this northwestern tree its present technical 

 name, Taxus brevifolia, which was pubhshed in 1849.^'^ 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 



The western yew is a small tree from 20 to 30 feet in height and 

 from 6 to 12 inches in diameter, occasionally attaining a height of 

 from 40 to 75 feet and a diameter of from 18 to 30 inches. The 

 largest trees occur in the Pacific slope region. As found in the 

 Rocky Mountain region, western yew rarely equals 25 feet in height, 

 and frequently it is only a shrub. The trunks are straight and-j 

 conical, but conspicuously ridged and fluted as if by an infolding of 

 the surface. Diameter growth is often very eccentric (larger on j 

 one side of the pith than on the other). Except in the case of large 

 old trees, the crown has an open conical form and extends nearly i 

 or quite to the ground, the slender branches standing out straight i 

 and often drooping somewhat, while from their sides and extremities ] 

 very slender branchlets hang down, giving the tree a weeping appear- i 

 ance. This latter habit is strongly marked in trees growing partly ' 

 or wholly in the open, because here the densely leafy branchlets are ! 

 very much more numerous than on trees growing in deep shade, i 

 The crowns of old trees are usually rounded and often unsymmetrical. : 



The purphsh bark is conspicuously thin, rarely over one-fourth ' 

 of an inch tliick, and composed of thin, paperlike, easily detached ; 

 scales, beneath which the newer unexposed bark is a clear rose-red j 

 or purple-red. j 



The deep yellow-green leaves (PL XIII), from one-half to tlu'ee' 

 fourths of an inch long, are soft to the touch, and much paler on their j 

 under sides than on the upper; their yellowish slender stems are | 

 about one-sixteenth of an inch long. Leaves produced each year! 

 remain on the trees in a green and functional condition for about five | 

 years; occasionally, a few green leaves from 6 to 9 years old are found i 

 here and there on branches. \ 



The bright coral-red fruit (PI. XIII, a) is ripe in September and| 

 begins to fall during October. Birds often eat the fruit for its sweetish ] 

 muciUaginous covering, but the hard-sheUed seeds are unaffected by,, 

 digestion. The attractiveness of the fruit to birds serves, therefore, \ 

 as an important means of disseminating the seed, which otherwise- 

 would not be carried far from the parent trees. The short, flat,^; 



60 According to Veitch (Man. of Coniferse, ed. 1, p. 305,. 1881) Taxus brevifolia was first introduced into 

 cultivation in European gardens in 1854 by Veitch & Sons through their collector, Wilham Lobb. But , 

 in the " New and Greatly Enlarged Edition" of Veitch 's Manual of Coniferse (p. 143, 1900) the statement ; 

 is made that Taxus brevifolia was introduced into British gardens in 1854 by "VVihiam Murray. To what j 

 extent this yew has been planted m European gardens and how well it Has succeeded there appears to be i 

 imperfectly known. Veitch (1. c.) says the tree is still exceedingly rare in British gardens. Elwes and j 

 Henry (The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, 1, 108, 1906) state that they know of no specimens of large i 

 size in England. 



