COMMON YEW. 363 



dish brown colour, which exfoliates and peels off in patches 

 like that of the Platanus. The leaves, about an inch in 

 length and placed in two lateral rows, are of a linear 

 shape, nearly sessile, their upper surface of a deep glossy 

 green, but paler, and with a prominent midrib beneath. 



The flowers are solitary, proceeding from a scaly axillary 

 bud ; those of the male plant are pale brown, and dis- 

 charge a very abundant yellowish white pollen. The 

 female flowers are green, and in form not unlike a young 



acorn. The fruit when ripe consists of a scarlet berry, 

 very sweet to the taste though mawkish in flavour, and 

 of a glairy or glutinous consistence, open at the top and 

 enclosing a small, oval, brown, hard-shelled seed or nut, 

 which, though surrounded by, is not immediately con- 

 nected with, the fleshy cup. The kernels of these nuts 

 are not deleterious, as supposed by many, but may be 

 eaten with impunity, and they possess a sweet and agree- 

 able nutty flavour. 



The Yew is indigenous to Britain, growing naturally 

 in various parts of England and Scotland, and particu- 



