October 13, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



401 



more, for everywhere south of Cape Cod it appears to be 

 perfectly hardy. Further east it suffers from the cold in 

 severe winters, and cannot be considered a desirable tree 

 for general planting in eastern New England, although it 

 can be made to grow indifferently in well-protected situa- 

 tions. 



There are found in gardens a number of interesting forms 

 of this tree ; of these the most distinct is the so-called Irish 

 or Florence Court Yew, Taxus baccata fastigiata, distin- 

 guished by its upright branches which form a narrow 

 compact pyramid somewhat broadened at the apex in old 

 age, and large, spirally arranged, very dark green leaves. 

 The plants of this variety are all female, and have been 

 propagated from 

 one or two indi- 

 viduals found dur- 

 ing the last century 

 on the mountains 

 of County F e r- 

 managh and plant- 

 ed in the garden 

 at Florence Court, 

 a seat of the Earl 

 of En n is kill en. 

 This upright-grow- 

 ing Yew, which is, 

 perhaps, the most 

 distinct and desir- 

 able of all fastigi- 

 ate evergreens, 

 appears perfectly 

 hardy about New 

 York and south- 

 ward, but does not 

 support the climate 

 of eastern New 

 England, where, 

 however, it is oc- 

 casionally used as 

 a tub-plant for the 

 decoration of ter- 

 races and formal 

 gardens. The De- 

 voston Yew, dis- 

 tinct in its long, 

 wide-spreading 

 and somewhat 

 pendulous branch- 

 es and longer and 

 darker leaves than 

 those of the ordi- 

 nary form, is a 

 seedling variety 

 which is now often 

 cultivated in Eu- 

 rope and is occa- 

 sionally met with 

 in the gardens of 

 the eastern states. 

 Another form, T. 

 baccata adpressa, 

 with numerous 

 spreading branches and very short broad leaves, was 

 long supposed to be a Japanese or Chinese plant. Only 

 the female is known, and although now generally sup- 

 posed to be a seminal variety of Taxus baccata, its 

 origin is still doubtful. It is certainly rather hardier than 

 other forms of Taxus baccata, and, although it grows here 

 very slowly and remains shrubby, it can be made to live in 

 eastern Massachusetts. Forms of Taxus baccata with 

 yellow and with pale or silvery leaves are favorite plants 

 in Europe, and they are occasionally cultivated in the 

 United States ; curiously enough, the golden-leaved Yew 

 is much hardier in New England than any of the other 

 forms of this tree with the exception of that last mentioned. 



William A. Stiles. — See page 399. 



and with a little care it can be grown in sheltered positions 

 in the neighborhood of Boston, although the tips of the 

 branches are often browned during severe winters. Nur- 

 serymen have given names to many other seminal varie- 

 ties of the European Yew, but none of these is particularly 

 distinct or valuable, and none of them can be expected to 

 thrive east of Cape Cod. 



Of the North American Yews the very local Taxus 

 Floridana, which only grows with Tumion taxifolium on 

 the banks of the Apalachicola, is practically unknown in 

 gardens, although young plants were introduced two years 

 ago into the Biltmore Arboretum ; it is not probable that it 

 would prove hardy at the north, or that it would be sufficiently 



distinct as a gar- 

 den plant to war- 

 rant any special 

 culture or care. 

 The Pacific coast 

 Yew, which under 

 favorable condi- 

 tions becomes a 

 tree eighty feet in 

 height,with a trunk 

 occasionally four 

 feet in diameter, 

 has not been fairly 

 tested yet in the 

 east. It grows not 

 only on the coast 

 as far north as 

 Quee 11 Charlotte 

 Islands, but it 

 spreads eastward 

 to the western 

 slopes of the north- 

 ern Rocky Moun- 

 tains in the United 

 States and to the 

 Selkirk Mountains 

 in British Colum- 

 bia, where the win- 

 ter cold is much 

 more severe than 

 it is in New Eng- 

 land. The snow- 

 fall, however, is 

 greater, and small 

 plants are protect- 

 ed all winter and 

 until late in the 

 spring by a deep 

 covering of snow, 

 while in summer 

 the ground, shaded 

 by the dense con- 

 iferous forest, nev- 

 er becomes very 

 dry in the situa- 

 tions which this 

 tree selects. The 

 individuals which 

 have failed in the 

 east have been derived from the coast region, and better suc- 

 cess might be obtained with plants from northern Montana, 

 and an attempt to obtain a hardy race of this tree will be 

 made in the Arnold Arboretum. 



The third United States Yew, Taxus Canadensis, is a low 

 shrub, with nearly prostrate, wide-spreading branches, and 

 is a common inhabitant of northern woods, often covering 

 large areas of low moist soil in their dense shade, and is 

 distributed from Newfoundland to Lake Winnipeg, and 

 southward to Virginia and Iowa. This is, of course, a 

 perfectly hardy plant, although it only thrives in moist, 

 shaded soil, and it might be used more frequently than it 

 is to cover the grounds in parks and gardens. 



