THE YEW. 393 



Leaves arranged in two rows, flat, narrow, acute-pointed, 

 and somewhat curved on the branchlets, but more or less scat- 

 tered on the leading shoots and principal branches, from three- 

 quarters to an inch long, and nearly a line broad, linear-falcate, 

 rarely straight, of a glossy yellowish green, with a projecting 

 rib down the middle on the upper surface, and glaucous below, 

 except on the margins and mid-rib, which are of a glossy green, 

 with a yellowish foot-stalk one line long, a little enlarged at the 

 base, and decurrent. Branches slender, very long, pendulous, 

 and covered with a yellowish bark. Fruit solitary on the 

 under side of the branches, and exactly like those of the Irisli ' 

 Yew (Taxus baccata fastigiata). Seeds nearly globular, and 

 yellowish brown. Wood very elastic, and used by the Indians 

 to make bows. 



This kind, according to Murray, is a handsome tree, growing 

 thirty or forty feet high, and from four to five feet in girth, five 

 feet from the ground, and found growing on the sides of glens, 

 under the shade of large trees, in Northern California. M. 

 Boursier, the French traveller, discovered this species in 1854, 

 growing along the banks of running streams on the higher 

 mountains of Northern California, in company with large trees 

 of Abies Douglasii and Pinus Lambertiana. Douglas found it 

 abundantly at the confluence of the Columbia, in 1825, and to 

 the northwards, but slightly differing in appearance from 

 the common Yew. 



It is called " Wa-wa-meens " (fighting-wood) by the Indians 

 along the north-west coast of America, on account of its wood 

 being used by them for making bows. 



No. i. Taxus Canadensis, Wildenoiu, the Canadian Yew. 



Syn. Taxus baccata Canadensis, Loudon. 

 ,, ,, „ minor, Michauoo. 



,j j, procumbens, Loddiges. 

 ,j ,, Canadensis major, Itnight. 

 Leaves iineai') Crowded, rather narrow, mostly strslight, but 

 sometimes slightly curved, extended, somewhat in two rowSj 



