BACCIFEK^. 173 



names as Dovasfonii, JacJfsonii, Becurvafa, and Prostrata ; and, 

 moreover, a variagata or variegated variety of tliis pendent-tranched 

 Yew is also extant, 



Pyramidalis, (the pyramidal variety :) tliis kind is more conical in 

 form, with a broader base, and more tapering to its point than either 

 erecta, or fastigiata ; somewhat intermediate ; and of this, again, there 

 are more forms than one ; amongst which may be mentioned Ches- 

 liuntensis. There is, moreover, a Pyramidalis- Variegata, a nice-habited, 

 ample and fastigiate-foliaged ; green, yellowish, and creamy- white- 

 sprayed variety of the pyramidal form of the English Yew. 



Sjxirsifolia, (the thin, sparse, or poorly-foliaged variety,) more 

 curious than beautiful, nevertheless, a distinct form of the common Yew. 



Variegata, (the variegated variety ;) this must not be confounded 

 with any of the Aureas and Argenteas already mentioned ; inasmuch, 

 as it is a very different and very sportive variety of the yew : at times 

 and seasons part of its foliage being of a yellowish-green or straw 

 colour, particularly when young, and other branclilets may be clothed 

 with light gi'een leaves ; while all of them as they increase in age, 

 increase in darkness, when old assuming a dull sombre green ; and 

 when aged or before falliug off changing to a rusty greenish-brown. 

 A bizarre tree, and doubtless the ancient JSTaturalist's : — " variable-leaved- 

 Yew-tree." 



TaXUS Communis HiberNICA: The Common Hibernian 

 Yew. 



This is the Irish Yew; a most useful well known, highly appreciated 

 and distinct little tree ; in habit and deportment it has no resemblance 

 to the prototype ; yet it is only a variety of it, inasmuch as it reverts to 

 the common Yew when propagated from seed more than to the parent. 

 It forms a fine contrast in a mixed group, shrubbery, or plantation ; 

 where, from its formal, compact, and erect habit of growth, it adds 

 much to the scenic effect of any landscape, however picturesque ; 

 morever, it is a most useful plant for lawn or garden embellishment as 

 an individual specimen tree or shrub. There is of this form of the Yew 

 the three following sub- varieties: — Argentea, (the silvery-variegated,) 

 having some of its branches clothed with creamy- white and green leaves, 

 which when well variegated, and kept so, is very pretty : A urea, this 

 is the golden- variegated, differing from the preceding in nothing but 

 the colour of its variegated leaves, which are more creamy or yelloAv : 

 and Aureo-virens, (the gold-and-green-sprayed Irish Yew ;) this is, 

 indeed, a beautiful, distinct, and variegated variety; rich in its massive 



