664 Oedee 128.— TAXAOEiE. 



ous. — ^Found throughout the U. S., but chiefly in the maritime parts, growing in 

 dry, rooky places. It is a tree of middle size, sending out numerous, horizontal 

 branches. Leayes dark green, the younger ones small, ovate acute, scale-like, 

 overlying each other in 4 rows, upon the subdivided branchlets ; the older ones 

 6" long, riowers inconspicuous, the staminate in oblong, terminal aments, 3" 

 long ; the fertile on separate trees, producing small, bluish berries covered with a 

 white powder. Wood reddish, very light, durable, used in making drawing pen- 

 cils, etc. Apr., May. 

 /?. PEOSTKATA. Lvs. ovate, submuoronate, glandular in the middle, appressed ; 



berries tubercular ; st. prostrate, creeping. — A shrub, on gravelly shores, with 



creeping branches i — 8f long. 



Order CXXVIH. TAXACE.^. Ybws. 



Trees or shrubs, with narrow, parallel-veined or broad fork-veined leaves, and the 

 flowers diclinous, achlamydeous, surrounded with imbricated bracts, i Flowers 

 several together, each consisting of one or several coherent anthers. ? Flowers 

 sohtary or clustered, each consisting of n. single naked ovule, terminal or axillary. 

 Fruit a solitary seed usually surrounded at base by a fleshy cupule. Fig. 421. 



Genera 9, species 50, generally natives of the temperate regions. 



1. TAX'US, Tourn. Yew. (Gr. rd^ov, an arrow ; arrows were 

 formerly poisoned witli the juice of the Yew tree.) Flowers $ $ or 

 8 , axillary, surrounded with numerous scales. $ Aments globular, 

 composed of 8 to 10 stamens ; anthers peltate, 6 to 8-celled, cells de- 

 hiscent beneath. ? Flowers solitary, consisting of a single ovule, be- 

 coming in fruit a seed nearly enclosed in a 1[)ulpy cupule, — Trees or 

 shrubs, with evergreen, linear, alternate lvs. 



1. T. Canadensis L. Dwarf Tew. Ground Hemlock. (Fig. 421.) Shrttb 

 low or prostrate ; -lvs. linear, mucronate, 2-ra«ied, revolute on the margin ; sterile 

 ament globous ; drupes depressed-glohous, open at top. — ^A small evergreen shrub 

 with the general aspect of a dwarf hemlock spruce (Pinus Canadensis). It grows 

 on thin rooky soils in shady places, 2 to 3f high, Can. to Penn. and Kjv Lvs. 

 nearly an inch long, arranged in 2 opposite rows on the sides of the branchlets. 

 Staminate flowers in small, roundish, axillary heads. Drupes coralline-red, con- 

 cave or open at the summit, displaying tho top of the black seed. May. 

 2 T. baooata L. English Tew. Tree of low stature, attaining a great size ; 

 lvs. liriear and spatulate-linear, imhricated all around the young bramchleis, finally 

 spreading and distichous ; fr. oblong-qval or somewhat bell-shaped, open at the 

 top. — Trees attaining great age in England, with short, huge trunks and 5vide- 

 spread branches, f 



2. TORRETA, Arnott. (Dedicated to Frof. John Torretj, of New 

 York.) — Flowers 8 . — $ Aments oblong, man}'-fiowored, bracts at base 

 imbricated in 4 rows ; stamen a pedicellate scale, bearing several an- 

 ther cells at base. ? Ament ovoid, l-flowered, consisting of a solitary 

 ovule surrounded with bracts ; fruit oblong-ovate, a nut-like seed en- 

 closed in a thick, fibro-fleshy testa. — Small evergreen trees, with spread- 

 ing branches and 2-ranked, linear lvs. 



T. taxifdiia Arn. — Along the Chattahoocliee, Mid. Fla., and cultivated at Quincy 

 (by Judge Dupont). Tree 15 to 30f high. Branches ramifying distichously and 

 horizontally. Lvs. dark green, shining, very acute, mucronate-pungent, margins 

 revolute, 18" long. Drupe near 1' long, with a brittle epicarp. 



3. SALISBU^RIA adiantifolia Smith, is occasionally seen in 

 gardens and shrubberies, called JingJco, in Japan. It is remarkably 

 distinguished by its broad, fan-shaped, fork-veined petiolate lvs. It be- 

 comes a tree 40 to SOf in height, f Japan. 



