PODOCARPUS. 355 



No. 53. PoDOCARPUS TAxiFOLiA, Humboldt, the Yew-leaved 



Podocarpus. 



Syn. Taxus montana, Willdenow not Nuttall. 

 „ Podocarpus montana, Loddiges. 

 „ „ Humboldti, Sort. 



„ Torreya Humboldti, Knight. 

 „ Dacrydium distichum, Don. 



Leaves somewliat in two rows, or scattered, broadly linear, 

 frequently more or less sickle shaped, bluntly rounded at the 

 ends, rarely pointed, but mostly furnished with a very short 

 mucro, entire, leathery, smooth, flat, or a little convex, of a 

 bright glossy green above, and much paler below; -from half an 

 inch to an inch long, and one line and a half broad, with a slight 

 rib along the upper surface, but hardly visible on the under 

 one except by its colour. Branches ascending or spreading, 

 but sometimes^ on old trees, drooping. Branchlets in two 

 rows, and alternate. Flower spikes branching, axillary, and 

 terminating in two or three flowers, but abortive, and only 

 one-fruited. Seeds ovate, or globular. 



A tree about sixty feet high, with a spreading head, found 

 on the mountains of Saragura, in Peru, and between Ona and 

 Loxa, at an elevation of from 6000 to 8000 feet. 



There is the following variety; — 



PODOCAEPUS TAXIFOLIA DENSIFOLIA, Kunth. 

 Syn, Taxus montana, Var. WUldenoiv. 

 Leaves much denser, and not more' than half the length of 

 those of the species, but in other respects the same. 



It is found on the mountains of Quindiu, between Moral and 

 Passo-del-Machin, in Peru, at an elevation of from 6000 to 

 8000 feet. 



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