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PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS tobeeya 



and pale pink fruits. T. Dovastoni, the 

 Weeping Yew, is a distinct and handsome 

 form with drooping branchlets. There is 

 a sub-variety of it called variegata, in 

 which the young leaves are broadly edged 

 with golden-yellow, but when old they are 

 of a bright green edged with silver. 



T. fastigiata (or liibernica) , the 

 Irish or Florence Court Yew, is a hand- 

 some pyramidal or columnar bush 6-8 ft. 

 high, with deep shining green linear 

 leaves scattered along the branches in 

 tufts. There are golden {aurea) and silver 

 (argentea) variegated forms of the Irish 

 Yew, which are both handsome. 



There are many other forms to which 

 distinctive names have been given, but that 

 with beautiful golden-yeUow fruits known 

 aafrioctu luteo, and Jacksotii — a weeping 

 kind with more or less curved reddish- 

 brown branches and pale green sickle- 

 shaped leaves — are the most distinct. The 

 foUowing names wUl give a good idea of 

 the character and variability of many 

 of the forms of Yew met with here and 

 there in gardens : — erecta, ericoides, 

 gla/aca, gracilis pendula, horizontalis, 

 nana, procumbens, pyra/midaUs &c. 



The Common Yew is not only useful 

 and ornamental as soUtary specimens 

 dotted here and there in large gardens, 

 but it also miakes excellent hedges, and vrill 

 flourish under the drip and shade of other 

 trees. It is most accommodating, and as 

 a screen for more tender subjects is not 

 to be despised. It attains a great age, 

 and like the specimen in Darley Dale 

 churchyard, Derbyshire, assumes grand 

 proportions. ■ This tree has a girth of 

 33 ft., and is said to be 3000 years old. 

 A very old and very large Yew tree, men- 

 tioned in Domesday Book, was a few years 

 ago successfully transplanted from Buck- 

 land churchyard, near Dover, a distance 

 of several hundred feet, and is now, 



1 believe, in the best of health. 



Culture dc. as above. 



T.brevifolia (r.BoMrs-ieri; T. Undley- 

 ana). — Western or Calif orniom Yew. — 

 A handsome Californian tree 80-40 ft. 

 high, with very long drooping slender 

 yellow-barked branches, and linear sickle- 

 shaped leaves f-1 in. long, arranged in 



2 rows, shining yellowish-green above, 

 glaucous beneath, with a very short 

 yellowish stalk. In a wild state this Yew 

 reaches a height of 60-80 ft. 



Culture da. as above. 



T. canadensis (T. haccata var. cana- 

 densis). — American Yew; Ground Hem- 

 loch. — A spreading bushy species 3-4 ft. 

 high, native of Canada and the N.E. 

 United States, having slender horizontally 

 spreading branches and narrow linear 

 crowded leaves, more or less in 2 rows, 

 about 1 in. long, spiny-pointed, pale 

 glossy yeUowish-green above, dull red 

 beneath. There is a variegated form 

 [variegata) in which the ends of the 

 young shoots are whitish, thoselower down 

 being edged with white, while the older 

 leaves are glossy green as in the type. In 

 the variety OAirea the foliage is yellowish 

 in colour. 



Culture Sc. as above. 



T. cuspidata. — A beautiful Japanese 

 shrub or small tree 15-20 ft. high, with 

 numerous spreading branches having 

 stiflish angular branchlets. Leaves |-1 

 inch long, linear, curved upwards, deep 

 glossy green above, pale yellow-green 

 beneath, spiny-pointed, more or less in 

 2 rows on the leading shoots, somewhat 

 clustered on the branchlets, and borne 

 on rather long stalks broadly decurrent 

 at the base. 



Culture dc. as above. 



TORREYA (Fetid Yew). — A genus 

 of strong-smelling Yew-Uke evergreen 

 trees with linear leaves, arranged more 

 or less spirally in 2 rows, and dioecious 

 flowers ; the male flowers solitary and 

 nearly sessile in the leaf axils ; the fe- 

 male ones axillary, 2-3 together. Fruit 

 erect, about the size of a Walnut, green 

 and fleshy when ripe, 1-seeded. Seed 

 with albumen ruminated like that of the 

 Nutmeg, and covered with a. hard bony 

 shell. The aril or cup at the base of the 

 fruit in this genus remains undeveloped. 



Culture and Propagation. — When 

 well grown in light loamy soil in warm 

 and sheltered situations, the Torreyas 

 form very ornamental bushes or small 

 trees. They are easily increased by seeds 

 sown in spring, the fruits having been 

 previously mixed with moist sand so as 

 to remove the flesliy outer covering. Cut- 

 tings of the fairly well-ripened shoots 

 may also be inserted in August and 

 September in sandy soil in cold frames 

 or under handUghts, which should be 

 protected fr-om strong sunshine until 

 roots have been developed. Layers of 

 the lower branches may also be made 

 during the summer and autumn. 



