102 



BRITISH EOCENE FLORA. 



Though I had not noticed the peculiarity when I drew the enlargement (fig. 1, a on PI. 

 XXVII), I am sure that the fossil agrees with the Yew, and that the leaves have not the 

 twist of Sequoia. Again, there is the absence of Sequoia cones in the beds at Ardtun ; 

 while, on the other hand, there is a small coaly disc in contact with the apex of the 

 specimen, fig. 1, which might be a male flower or bud of Taxus, and an indistinct disc 

 among the leaves of fig. 2, which might be a berry ; I wish, however, to lay no stress 

 on these. Finally, we have in the specimens a greater general resemblance to Taxus 

 cuspidata and T. adpressa than we have to Sequoia sempervirens, specimens of the first- 

 mentioned Yew, in the Kew and British-Museum Herbaria, even reproducing the little 

 imbricated spike at the apex of fig. 2. 



In addition to positive evidence, there is the negative fact that all the plants yet 

 determined from the British Basalts are now indigenous, if still 

 living, to Western Asia and Eastern North-America — among 

 them being Onoclea, Ginkgo, Cryptomeria, Podocarpus, the 

 Cypress, and Pines. Taxus would be at home in such company, 

 while it is almost needless to say, Sequoia would not. Against 

 this evidence there is nothing opposing to set. Sequoia Langs- 

 dorjii no doubt occurs in many places in Europe, but Heer's 

 claims for it — perhaps in some cases put forward without an 

 examination of the specimens themselves — were too comprehen- 

 sive, and the species is in great need of revision. 



It seems no longer necessary to retain the generic name 

 " Taxites " in this case ; for either the fossil is Taxus, or else 

 some quite different Conifer. It cannot be identified with cer- 

 tainty with any of the many other European Eocene forms des- 

 cribed as Taxites Langsdorjii, and there is no alternative but 

 ! the pleasing one of restoring the specific name originally given 



Fig. 38.— Fructification of the 

 common Yew. (1) Male or stam 

 iniferous flower; (2) Female or tQ ft by Edward ForbeS 



Taxus adpressa, Knight, of Japan, is a dense, spreading, 



ovule-bearing flower ; (3) Ripe 

 fruit ; (4) Longitudinal section of 

 the seed showing the position of 



the embryo. (' Veitch's Manual/ an( j depressed bush, seldom growing more than six or eight 



feet high. Taxus cuspidata, Siebold, which the fossil chiefly 

 resembles, is described by Gordon as a large, handsome bush, densely clothed with 

 somewhat ascending branches, and dark green foliage, growing from fifteen to twenty 

 feet high, found in the Island of Jesso and to the South. Veitch describes it as generally 

 solitary in the forests of this island, attaining a height of from thirty to forty feet, with 

 a trunk from one and a half to two feet in diameter. The branches are spreading, and 

 the general aspect is less dense than the common Yew, and with a somewhat more irre- 

 gular outline. The leaves are broader, more abruptly pointed, more leathery in texture, 

 and lighter in colour than those of the European species. 1 



1 ' Manual of the Coniferse,' p. 306, James Veitch and Sons, 1881 



