55. 
THE YEW. 
Taxus baccata. 
Puatez 7, Fie. 2. 
Za pada of growth and sombre- 
ness of foliage are the persisten 
characteristics of the Yew. It 
does not, under any circum- 
stances, become a tall Tree, its 
maximum height being only about 
forty feet, whilst it is frequently much 
& lower than that. But it acquires often- 
x * times an enormous girth, instances of 
Yews of twenty-four feet in circumference being 
not uncommon, whilst instances of Yews of thirty, 
forty, fifty, and even more feet in girth have been 
recorded. The evergreen leaves of this Tree, 
