THE YEW TRIBE. 291 



Teibe IV.— TAXINE^E. The Yew Teibe. (Taxads). 



Amidst much variety in habit and aspect, the Taxads, sufficiently 

 hardy for the climate of Great Britain, possess the following 

 common characters, those of fructification being deemed essential, 

 and distinguishing the members of the tribe from other Coniferae. 



Their growth, with but few exceptions, is comparatively slow, 

 and their wood hard, tough, and very durable. Their leaves 

 are narrow, flattened, and entire, frequently distichous or sub- 

 distichous in arrangement, occasionally scattered, but in Ginkgo 

 (Sahsburia) they are expanded into a fan-like shape, striated 

 with veins of uniform thickness, and notched at the edges. 



The flowers are monoecious or dioecious and solitary • the 

 male flowers having the stamens united at the base, and the 

 female with the ovule unprotected by scales. The fruit is 

 always one seeded (monospermous) and not collected into 

 cones as in the other Tribes ; the seed is usually enclosed in 

 a fleshy covering. 



The Taxads are resinous, like other Coniferse, but their secretions 

 are not abundant, nor are they applied to any useful purpose. 

 The young growth and foliage of the common Yew is known to 

 be poisonous, and it is highly probable that those of other mem- 

 bers of the tribe are more or less noxious. The timber of many 

 of the Taxads is extremely valuable in their native countries, as 

 that of the Yew in Great Britain, the Totara Pine (Podocarpus 

 Tota/ra) in New Zealand, Dacrydium Franldinii in Tasmania, Podo- 

 carpus cupressinus in Java, &c. 



The Taxads are but thinly spread over the globe. The Yew has 

 an extensive area of distribution in the temperate regions of the 

 northern hemisphere ; the Podocarps take the place of the Yew 

 between the tropics, and the tribe is represented in the southern 

 hemisphere by Daorydium, Phyllooladus, 8axe-Qothcea, &c. 



I.— TAKUS (Toumefort). The Yew. 



The essential characters of Taxus are sufficiently indicated above. 

 As regards its distribution, the Yew is rarely met with beyond the 



