TAXUS. 



ancients report that it is dangerous to fleep under this tree. 

 It was JFormerly much planted in church-yards ; and many 

 Yews, perhaps " the tenants of a thoufand years," Hill re- 

 main in the northern and WcKh village cemeteries. This 

 was the favourite tree for clipping into any fantaftic fliape, 

 on which art our <jld gardeners fo much valued themfelvcs ; 

 but the art and the material are now nearly alike difcarded ; 

 and tlie garden is freed from one of tlie greateft afylunis for 

 vermin, the trim yew hedge. 



2. T. canadenfis. North American Yew. Willd. n. 2. 

 Purfli n. I. (T. baccata /5, minor; Michaux Boreal. - 

 Amer. v. 2. 245.) — Leaves linear, two-ranked, crowded, 

 revolute. Male flowers globofe, always folitary. — In (luidy 

 rocky places in North America, flowering in March and 

 April. In Canada. Michaux. Covering a great pwt of 

 the rocky banks of the Antietum, in Maryland. Under 

 the (hade of other trees, it does not rife above two or three 

 feet. Purjh. Michaux defcribes this fpecies as of humbler 

 growth than the former, fpreading, and with fmaller_y7cw«"x 

 and fruit, Willdenow fays it is fmaller and narrower in all 

 its parts, nor does it alter by cidture, and yet a fpecific dif- 

 tindtion is hardly to be detected. The leaves, how'evcr, are 

 narrower, fmaller, and revolute at the margin. ^?le Jloivers 

 always fohtary in the bofoms of the leaves. 



3. T. elongata. Long -leaved African Yew. Ait. ed. I. 

 v. 3. 415. ed. 2. n. 3. Willd. n. 3. Thunb. Prodr. 117. 

 — Leaves fcattered, linear-lanceolate. Branches fomewhat 

 whorled. Male flowers cylindrical, with fpirally imbricated, 



very numerous, anthers Native of the Cape of Good 



Hope. Sent to Kew in 1774, and kept in feveral curious 

 greenhoufes in England as well as on the continent, flower- 

 ing in July. Wild fpecimens, anfwering to Thunberg's 

 charafter of tlie whorled branches, but without a name, are 

 preferved in the Linnrcan herbarium. In thefe the leaves are 

 fcattered, on tliort broad ilalks, flat, coriaceous, fomewhat 

 glaucous, occafionally falcate, from one to two inches long. 

 Male Jtotvers axillary, folitary, cyHndrical, obtufe, about 

 half an inch in length, their fcale-like anthers imbricated, ex- 

 axStly like thofe of a Fir. The garden plant has leaves half 

 as long again, not glaucous, lometimes oppofite on the 

 young branches. 



4. T. montana. Mountain Peruvian Yew. Willd. n. 4. 

 — " I^eaves two-ranked, hnear, with a callous point ; tlicir 

 upper edge rounded at the bafe ; lower contracted. " — Ga- 

 thered by Humboldt and Bonpland on the mountains of 

 Peru. Akin to 7". laccnta, but differing in the above cha- 

 rnifter of the foliage. The fame travellers noticed, in Mexico, 

 what Willdenow judged to be a mere variety of this fpecies, 

 with leaves half as long again. 



5. T. nucifera. Acorn-bearing Yew. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1472. Willd. n. 5.. Ait. n. 3. Thunb. Jap. 275. 

 Kainpf. Am. Exot. 814. t. 815. — Leaves two-ranked, 

 dillant, lanceolate, pointed, but half the length of the fruit. 

 — Frequent, according to Kaempfer, in the northern pro- 

 vinces of J;;pan, flowering in fpring, and ripening fruit late 

 in a\itumn. Thunberg obferved it here and there near Na- 

 gafaki, and in the ifland of Nipon. Mr. Aiton fays it was 

 cultivated in the greenhoufe of Capt. Thomas Cornwall, in 

 1764. We have never examined this fpecies. Ksmpfer 

 defcribes it as a lofty tree, with many oppofite fcaly branches ; 

 the wood light. Leaves hardly an inch long, one-third of 

 an inch afunder, nearly feffile, tipped with a Ihort point ; 

 dark lliining green above ; glaucous beneath. Female 

 flowers axillary, folitary, difperfed, fomewhat quadrangular, 

 their thick flefhy fcales becoming a fort of permanent cup at 

 the bafe of the feed, or nut, which is coated, oval, pointed, 

 above an inch lonj;. The oil of the kernel is eilcemed for 



culinary purpofes. The kernel itfelf is too aftringcnt to be 

 eaten in general. 



6. T. macrophylla. Long-leaved Japan Yew. Thunb. 

 Jap. 276. Willd. n. 6. Ait. n. 4. Banks Ic. Ksmpf. 

 t. 24. {Sin, vulgo Maki, feu Fon Maki, id eft Malci legi- 

 tiina ; Ka;'mpf. Am. Exot. 780.) — Leaves icattcred, lanceo- 

 late, pointlefs, fpreading every way. Fruit ilalked. — Com- 

 mon in Japan, flowering in June. Thunberg. Mr. William 

 Kerr brought it from Cliina to Kew in 1804. A green- 

 houfe plant, flowering in July and Auguft. Aiton. Ka?mpfer 

 defcribes this as a large and llout tree, whofe wood is valued 

 for cabinet work, being not liable to the attacks of infedts, 

 or other caufes of decay. The leaves are a finger's length, 

 fpreading equally in all direftions ; paler beneath. Male 



foivcrs cylindrical. Fruit axillary, Ilalked, with a pair of 

 awl-fliaped revolute fcales at the top of the llalk. The feed 

 is oval, the fi/.e of a pea, and fetms by Kaempfer's figure to 

 be elevated on a partial ftalk above the fleftiy calyx. Thun- 

 berg, however, fpeaks of the " ovate fmooth green berry, 

 turning black in drying, filled by an ovate white feed." 

 Perhaps this may be a coated nut, as in T. nucifera. 



7. "Y . fpinulofa. Spinous-leaved YeW Leaves partly 



oppofite or whorled, lanceolate, fpinous-pointed, fpreading 

 every way. Fr\iit ihdked. — For a fpecimen of this, faid to 

 have been brought by governor Philip irom Pert Jackfon, 

 New South Wales, we are indebted to A. B. Lambert, 

 efq. It very much refembles Kocmpfer's plate of the lait, 

 in general habit, but the leaves are hardly an inch and 

 quarter long, and have each a fpinous point. The ftalks 

 of x\\c fruit are axillai'y, each crowned with a pair of lanceo- 

 late, revolute, permanent fcales. Fruit oval, elevated on a 

 ftalk, whicli is equal in length to the calyx, compofcd of 

 feveral flefhy fcales, that envelopes it. The Cze and whole 

 appearance of this fruit and its accompaniments are fo pre- 

 cifely like Kimpfer's figure of the l.ail, which indeed they 

 help us to underftand, that thefe two plants muft be of the 

 fame genus, and are more truly perhaps akin to T. nucifera, 

 than to T. baccata. On this fubjeft we may expeft informa-. 

 tion hereafter from Mr. Brown ; if at leail our prefent plant 

 be really a native of New South Wales. 



8. T. latifoUa. Broad-leaved Cape Yew. Thunb. 

 Prodr. 117. Willd. n. 7. — " Leaves folitary, lanceolate, 

 pointed, fmooth." — Found by Thunberg at the Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



9. T. falcata. Sickle-leaved Cape Yew. Thunb. 

 Prodr. 117. Willd. n. 8. — " Leaves folitary, lanceolate, 

 falcate, fmooth." — From the fame country. One of our 

 wild fpecimens of 7". elongata anfwers to this definition. 



10. T. tomentofa. Downy Cape Yew. Thunb. Prodr. 



117. Willd. n. 9 " Leaves oppofite, lanceolate, downy 



beneath." — Gathered at the Cape by Thunberg, whofe 

 fpecific characters of thefe fpecies, except of the laft, are 

 not fufficient to diftinguifh them from llie reft. \Ve have 

 feen no fpecimens. 



11. 'i\ vcrticillata. Whorled Japan Yew. Thunb. Jap. 

 276. Willd. n. 10. [Ken Jin, item Sen baku, vulgo Inu 

 Maki, id eft Maki fpuria ; Ksnipf. Am. Exot. 780.) — 

 Leaves whorled, linear, falcate. — Native of Japan. A tree 

 with denfe branches, gradually ftiortcr upward, fo as to 

 aflume a conical figure, like a Cyprefs, three fathoms high. 

 Fruit ob!ong, in two divifions ; the lower part refembling 

 moufe-dung ; the upper a grain of pepper, in which is 

 loofely enclofed a fleftiy, loft, fweetifh kernel. Such is 

 Ksempfer's defcription, by which it is eafy to perceive the 

 ch'fe rtferi-.blance of this fruit to our T. mairiphylla and fpi- 

 n-ulofa. A fpecimei. from Thunberg, without fructification, 

 in the Linnasaii herbarium, anfwers .veil to his own defc-ip- 



tion. 



