1907-190S.] The Yew. 49 



wards. To fix a yew branch in its inverted position, a 

 horizontal branch must be bent over in a semicircular form 

 until its free end is inverted but horizontal. It can be fixed 

 in this position by being tied in two places to a stick fastened 

 in the ground. The twisting of the leaves requires several 

 weeks for completion. Among the numerous narrow small 

 green leaves the flowers make their appearance in the early 

 spring, the pale yellow male flowers on one tree and the 

 inconspicuous female flowers, with greenish bracts at their 

 base, on another. The yew is a dioecious tree, having its male 

 and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes it be- 

 comes monoecious, with both flowers on the same plant. In 

 spring, if a branch of a male tree is swayed by the wind or 

 struck with a stick, a smoke-like dust will be seen to rise 

 from the foliage ; this is the pollen of the male flower, which 

 escapes in such dense clouds as to appear on the tree like 

 smoke, " living smoke," as Tennyson beautifully calls it. 

 When the pollen is ripe, the shaking of the branches causes it 

 to burst from its sack in a powdery mass, which is carried by 

 the wind direct to the young seed, technically called an ovule : 

 a part of this ovule, called the micropyle, is rendered sticky 

 like the stigma of higher plants, so that the pollen brought by 

 the wind may adhere to it. In the early spring, when the 

 pollen is being dispersed by the wind, the female flowers may 

 be noticed sparkling in the sunshine like dewdrops ; these are 

 the sticky secretions of the ovules ready to catch any of the 

 pollen grains floating in the air. In the yew actual fertilisa- 

 tion does not take place till about twelve months after 

 pollination. The seeds occur at the tips of little scales bear- 

 ing shoots, and when ripe are surrounded by a red fleshy 

 pulp. This arises as a round cushion from the place of 

 insertion of the ovule, and is not of the nature of a fruit. It 

 is merely a covering of the seed which botanists term an 

 aril. This red fleshy pulp is popularly called a berry, and is 

 very attractive to children as well as birds. It may be found 

 from September onwards. 



The massive stems of many yews, and their numerous 

 horizontal branches spreading in all directions, are suggestive 

 of great antiquity. The trunk is not covered with a splitting 

 bark, but composed of a number of smooth stems joined 



VOL. VI. D 



