306 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFER*. 



The Florida Tew (Taxus floridana) is a small tree 10 to 20 feet 

 in height ; it is found only on the banks of the Apalachicola river, 

 and is still imperfectly known. 



Taxus canadensis variegata is a far more ornamental plant 

 than the preceding; the leaves of the young growth are margined 

 with yellowish-white, which becomes fainter by age, and finally 

 gives place to the natural green of the species during the growth 

 of the following season. 



Taxus canadensis Washingtonii is a rather vigorous-growing 



variety, with longer leaves, having their tips and part of the 



upper surface of a bright golden-yellow. It is one of the hand- 

 somest of the variegated Yews. 



Taxus cuspidata . as seen in the forests of Jesso, is generally 

 solitary. It attains a height of from 30 to 40 feet, with a trunk 

 from 1J to 2 feet in diameter. The branches are spreading, and the 

 general aspect is less dense than the common Yew and with a some- 

 what more irregular outline. The leaves are broader, more abruptly 

 pointed, more leathery in texture, and lighter in colour than those 

 of the European species. On the branchlets the distichous or two- 

 rowed arrangement predominates, but on the older growth and 

 upright branches, the leaves are scattered as in the Irish Yew. 



Habitat. — Japan, in the island of Jesso, and in cultivation 

 throughout the country. 



II.— CEPHALOTAXUS (SieboldJ. The Chinese Yew. 



A small group of Taxads inhabiting northern China and Japan, 

 was discovered between forty and fifty years ago by Dr. Siebold 

 and Mr. Fortune, and introduced by them under the name of 

 Cephalo taxus. Three species or forms are at present known, one 

 indigenous to China, one to Japan, and one occurs in both these 

 countries. They are straggling undershrubs, having the following 

 characters : — 



Primary branches whorled and spreading; the secondary ones 

 produced laterally only; the leaves linear, two-rowed, with 

 a short footstalk, and sharply pointed; flowers dioecious; the 



