302 A MANUAL OV THE CONIFERS. 



still flourishing, and in 1876 the circumference of its branches was 

 found to be 72 feet, girth of trunk 7| feet, and height 34 feet.* 

 Seedling plants raised from the tree partook of the same pendent 

 character. 



Taxus baccata elegantissima. — A variegated variety, dense and 

 compact in habit, having its leaves striped with straw colour, and 

 sometimes whitish. As the variegation is constant, it is a very 

 useful as well as a highly ornamental shrub. 



It was introduced by Messrs. Fisher, Son, and Sibray, of the 

 Handsworth Nurseries, near Sheffield. 



Taxus baccata erecta. — A variety with slender upright branches, 

 growing closely together, giving the tree a column-like form. The 

 leaves are two-rowed, like those of the species. 



Taxus baccata ericoides is one of the smallest varieties of the 

 common Tew. It is a low shrub with slender branches, clothed 

 with small heath-like foliage. 



Taxus baccata fastigiata.— A very distinct variety, readily dis- 

 guished from the species by its upright mode of growth and deep 

 green leaves, which are not distichously arranged like those of the 

 common Tew, but are scattered around the branchlets. It is the 

 Irish Tew of gardens. 



The Irish Yew originated from a plant accidentally found on the 

 mountains of Fermanagh, near Florence Court, more than a century 

 ago. The original tree is a female, so that the thousands of plants 

 sprung from it are berry-bearing, a circumstance that greatly enhances 

 the ornamental qualities of this shrub during the autumn months. 



The following account of the origin of the Irish Yew is taken from 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle for 1873, p. 1336, where it is reprinted from 

 the People's Journal, as it appeared in one of a series of chapters 

 entitled, "A Visit to the Eastern Necropolis" (at Dundee), by a writer 

 under the nom de plume of " Norval," dating from Eossie Priory. It 

 will be seen that the account contains an apt illustration of one of the 

 purposes for" which the Irish Yew is much planted: — 



"Near by our place is a grave marked by a small and solitary Irish 

 Yew, and nothing more. I know not who had been laid under it. 

 That dark green 'mournful Yew, 5 however, serves a purpose in some 

 hearts. Here and there in the Necropolis are to be seen similar monu- 



* "W. Barron, in The Garden, vol. ix., p. 341. 



