THE YEW. 39^ 



but ascending in a dwarfish form to 11,800 feet. In KunaAvur 

 and Gurhwal it is called " Rikaling," " Ikaling," and very com^ 

 monly " Sung-cha " (Yew-tree), or " Pung-cha " (Tea-tree), and 

 from the leaves and smaller twigs of which, according to Cap- 

 tain Strachey, the people of Ladakh make an inferior kind of 

 black tea, under the name of " Zang-cha," the first infusion of 

 whichj if used, would heat the blood, and occasion pains in the 

 limbs. In the damp climate of Sikkim it does not descend 

 below 9,000 feet^ and is very rare on the inner ranges, and un- 

 known on the rearward ones, but attains to a large size in 

 Kooloo, and on the Chumba ranges, at an altitude of 9,000 

 feet, where it forms large forests ; but of all the places in the 

 Himalayas where it is met with in greatest perfection, is at . 

 Tonghnath, at an elevation of 9,000 feet, where it occurs in 

 company with Abies Smithiana. 



The leaves and bark are used for tea by the hill people, and 

 is called " Thoona," or " Thooner-Birmee," in the British Hima- 

 layas ; " Loosah," by the mountain people in Kamaon ; " Ting- 

 shi," in Sikkim; " Pung-cha," in Kunawur; and "Dheyri," or 

 " Lolsi," in Nepal. The people of Ludakh import the leaves 

 and bark of the " Pung-cha " (Tea-tree) from Kunawur, not 

 only for tea, but also as yielding a red dye, under its Cashmere 

 name of " Chatoong." The leaves, when gathered for tea, are 

 first exposed in the sun for two days, and afterwards, when 

 dry, mixed with gum, to give them the appearance of tea. 



Most writers on Indian ConiferBe unaccountably confound 

 this kind with the Japan Taxus nucifera of Thunberg (now 

 Torreya nucifera), an error which Professor Zuccarini pointed 

 out in his Morphology of the Coniferee, pp. 52, 53, after exa- 

 mining Drl Wallich's specimens; and, ascertaining that the 

 Indian plant was a true Yew, and not a Torreya, gave it the 

 name of Taxus Wallichiana, in compliment to Dr. Wallich. 



It is quite hardy, and worthy of being tried, along with the 

 common Yew, as a substitute for Tea, in the same way as used 

 by the hill people of India ; for it is very well known that 

 cattle, eating the fresh green leaves and shoots of the common 



