YEW TREE 



Colour. Sap-wood brown in my specimens, and darker than 

 and sharply defined from, the white or brownish-white heart- 

 wood (perhaps the sap-wood in my specimen is tainted ?). 



Anatomical Characters. As those of Pinus sylvestris No. 242, 

 but without either horizontal or vertical resin canals. Autumn 

 wood a band of much darker and denser wood yet gradually 

 merging into that of the Spring. Rings sharply defined and 

 appearing in bold bands and loops in tangential section (plank- 

 wise) much resembling those of Deal. Rays visible by contrast 

 of lustre on a cleft surface. 



Type specimen authenticated by the Forest Officer to the Gov- 

 ernment of New Zealand. 



No. 215. YEW TREE. Taxus baccata. Linn, (not 

 of Hook or Thun.) 

 Plate XVI. Fig. 136. 



Natural Order. Coniferse. 



Sources of Supply. Europe, India, Canada. 



Alternative Names. Deodar (God's Tree) in some parts of the 

 Himalayas. For others in the various dialects of India see Gamble 

 and Watt. 



Synonym. T. baccata var. canadensis. Gray. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 40-57 lbs. per 

 cu. ft. Hardness Grade 5, compare English Ash. Smell none. 

 Taste bitter (develops slowly upon the tongue). Burns with a 

 lively but quiet flame and little if any smell ; embers glow in still 

 air. Solution with water very little, colour slightly brownish ; 

 more afterwards extracted by alcohol. 



Bark. Red, about -fa inch thick or less, leathery, smooth, 

 scarcely fissured ; lenticels canoe-shaped ; falls away in thin, flat 

 scales at length. 



Grain. Extremely fine and even. Surface scarcely bright. 



Uses', etc. " Turnery, carving, toys " (69). " Takes black stains 

 well and then resembles Ebony " (69). " Difficult to split . . . 

 very durable" (106). "Chair-making, walking-sticks, whip- 

 stocks . . . a suitable wood for bows, . . . not now obtainable " 

 (113). "The hardest, heaviest and toughest of the European 

 woods" (129). >" Incense- — works and polishes well" (37). 

 "Takes and retains a polish for a long time" (69). "Of un- 

 limited durability" (131). 



Authorities. Kew List Conif. (58), p. 21. Nordlinger (86), 

 vol. iii. p. 8. Schwartz (106), p. 476. Stevenson (113), p. 142. 

 Holtzapffel (48), p. no. Westermeier (129). Gamble (37), p. 413. 

 Mathieu (69), p. 511. Macoun (66), p. 463. Wiesner (131), L. 6, 

 p. 166. Ditto (130). Watt (127). 



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