664 Oedeb 128.— TAXAOB^. 



0U8. — Found throughout the IT. S., but chiefly in the maritime parts, growing in 



dry, rooky places. It is a tree of middle size, sending out oumerous, horizontal 



branches. Leaves dark green, the younger ones small, ovate acute, scale-Iilje, 



overlying each other in 4 rows, upon the subdivided branchlets; the older ones 



6" long. Flowers inconspicuous, the staminate in oblong, terminal aments, 3" 



long ; the fertile on separate trees, producing small, bluish berries covered with a 



white powder. "Wood reddish, very light, durable, used in making drawing pen- 



odle, etc. Apr., May. 



/3. PROSTEATA. Lvs. ovate, submucronate, glandular in the middle, appresaed ; 



berries tubercular ; st. prostrate, creeping. — A shrub, on gravelly shores, with 



creeping branches 4 — 8f long. 



Order CXXVIH. TAXACEJE. Yews. 



JVeej or shrubs, with narrow, parallel-veined or broad fork-veined leaves, and the 

 flowers dichnous, achlamydeous, surrounded with imbricated bracts. $ Flowers 

 several together, each consisting of one or several coherent anthers. $ Flowers 

 solitary or clustered, each consisting of a single naked ovule, terminal or axillary. 

 Fruit a solitary seed usually surrounded at base by a fleshy cupule. Fig. 421. 



O&n&ra 9, species 50, generally natives of the temperate regions. 



1. TAX'US, Tourn. Yew. (Gr. rd^ov, an arrow ; arrows were 

 formerly poisoned with the juice of the Yew tree.) Flowers 3 $ er 

 8 , axillary, surrounded with numerous scales. $ Aments globular, 

 composed of 8 to 10 stamens ; anthers peltate, 6 to 8-celled, cells de- 

 hiscent beneath. ¥ Flowers solitary, consisting of a single ovule, be- 

 coming in fruit a seed nearly enclosed in a pulpy cupule.— Trees or 

 shrubs, with evergreen, linear, alternate lvs. 



1. T. Canad^nsia L. Dwaef Tew. Ground Hemlock. (Fig. 421.) Shrub 

 low or prostrate ; lvs. linear, mucronaie, 2-ranked, revolute on the margin ; sterile 

 ament globous ; drupes depressed-globous, open at top. — A small evergreen shrub 

 with the general aspect of a dwarf hemlock spruce (Pinus Canadensis). It grows 

 on thin rocky soils in shady places, 2 to 3f high, Can. to Penn. and Ky. Lvs. 

 nearly an inch long, arranged in 2 opposite rows on the sides of the branchlets. 

 Staminate iiowers in small, roundish, axillary heads. Drupes coraEine-red, con- 

 cave or open at the summit, displaying the top of the black seed. May. 

 2 T. baoc^ta L. English Tew. Free of low stature, attaining a great size ; 

 lvs. linear and spaiulate-linear, imbricated all around the young branchlets, finally 

 spreading and distichous ; fr. oblong-oval or somewhat bell-shaped, open at the 

 top.— Trees attaining great age in England, with short, huge trunks and wide- 

 spread branches, -f 



2. TORRETA, Arnott. (Dedicated to Prof. John Torrey, of New 

 York.) — Flowers 8 .— ^ 3 Aments oblong, many-flowered, bracts at base 

 imbricated in 4 rows ; stamen a pedicellate scale, bearing several an- 

 ther cells at base. 5 Ament ovoid, 1-flowered, consisting of a solitary- 

 ovule surrounded with bracts ; fruit oblong-ovate, a nut-like seed en- 

 closed in a thick, fibro-fleshy testa. — Small evergreen trees, with spread- 

 ing branches and 2-ranked, linear lvs. 



T. tazifolia Am. — Along the Chattahoochee, Mid. Fla., and cultivated at Quincy 

 (by Judge Dupont). Tree 15 to 30f high. Branches ramifying distichousiy and 

 horizontally. Lvs. dark green, shining, very acute, mucronate-pungent, margins 

 revolute, 18" long. Drupe near 1' long, with a brittle epicarp. 



3. SALISBU^'RIA adiantifolia Smith, is occasionally seen in 

 gardens and shrubberies, called Jingho, in Japan. It is remarkably 

 distinguished by its broad, fan-shaped, fork-veined petiolate lvs. It be- 

 comes a tree 40 to 80f in height, f Japan. 



