260 TAXACER 
opinions upon the subject have been, and will be 
again, often and unreservedly expressed in divers 
directions, by many observers, on many occasions, 
as opportunities arise. And these seem all-sufficient 
reasons that we should quit the subject here. 
4 
(1) PRUMNOPITYS, AND (2) SAXEGOTHEA 
CONSPICUA 
(OF THE NATURAL ORDER CONIFER, or THE 
FAMILY TAXACE, or THE TRIBE TAXINEZ, 
OF THE SUB-TRIBE PODOCARPE) 
The first-named of these two representatives of the 
sub-tribe Podocarpee is another of the Greek built-up 
words that calls for effort .of pronunciation in 
speech, and scholarship to construe. It is a word— 
qua word—that, if you wish to effect a clear pro- 
nunciation of, suggests the desirability of following 
the footsteps of the Athenian orator Demosthenes 
to the seashore, and there practising utterance of it, 
pebble in mouth, before the roar of the sea. Nothing 
but the direst necessity of words could have been 
accountable for the invention of such a name. 
It is derived from the Greek -words zpotpvor (wild 
plum), wirus (pine). The word zev«7j, be it remem- 
bered, applies to the Spruce Fir (Picea), not to the 
Pine. Its claim to individuality is that, though it 
is nearly allied to the Podocarpus, its peduncle (the 
stalk of its fruit) does not become fleshy, while its 
bud scales are valvate (open at the edges), and not 
imbricated (overlapping). Its fruit is a stone con- 
tained in a thin layer of fleshy covering (but without 
a fleshy peduncle) about 4 or ? in. long, and a little 
less wide. It has the appearance of a wild damson. 
Its shorter leaves are very densely and spirally 
inserted, but thrown into rather an irregular-looking 
