TATA] 



€i)e Ereatfurg ai BSotaiij), 



1126 



Wards ; and a free ovary, containing nume- 

 rous ovules in two rows, and ending in a 

 stigma which runs down its inner angle. 



T. aromatica, the Tasmanian species, 

 possesses, as its specific name implies, 

 aromatic qualities, particularly its bark, 

 which so closely resembles the Winter's 

 Bark of Magelliaen's Straits (Drimys 

 Winteri), that it is substituted for it by 

 colonial doctors. The colonists call it the 

 Pepper-plant, and use its little black pun- 

 gent fruits as a substitute for pepper. It 

 grows in large masses, and in favourable 

 situations attains a height of twelve feet, 

 with a trunk sometimes as much as nine 

 inches in diameter; the branches being 

 somewhat whorled, and when young 

 clothed with red bark. Under the micro- 

 scope the wood exhibits a structure resem- 

 bling that of many coniferous plants, the 

 fibres being marked with similar circular 

 disks. [A. S.3 



TAT. An Indian name for cloth made 

 from the fibre of Corchorus olitorius. 



TATABA. A large tree of Guiana, yield- 

 ing a hard tough wood, adapted for ship- 

 building, gun-carriages, &c. 



TATTIE. An Indian name for window 

 or door-screens made from split bamboo. 



TATJSCHERIA. A genus of Cruciferce 

 from Siberia, comprising smooth erect 

 annuals, with small whitish flowers on 

 racemes opposite the leaves, and oval 

 almost boat-shaped indehiscent pouches 

 beaked at the apex, surrounded by a lea- 

 thery inflexed wing, and containing a 

 single seed. [J. T. S.] 



TAUSCHIA. A genus of Umbelliferce, 

 containing a single Mexican species. It is 

 a perennial herb with much-divided leaves, 

 and a very short stem which lengthens in 

 fruiting. The calyx-limb is obsolete ; the 

 petals are entire, with a long inflexed apex; 

 the fruit is contracted at the side ; the 

 carpels have five filiform obtuse ridges, 

 the interstices furnished with a single 

 vitta. The carpophore is undivided, and is 

 indicated by a furrow in the middle of the 

 deep furrow of the commissure. [W C] 



TAUZIN. (Fr.) Quercas Toza. 



TAVOLA. Terminalia Catappa. 



TAWNY. The same as Fulvous. 



TAXACE.E. A suborder of Coniferce, 

 often considered as a distinct order, dis- 

 tinguished chiefly by their fruits not being 

 collected in cones, each ovule growing 

 singly, unprotected by hardened scales. 

 See Conii 



TAXANTHEMA. Statice. 



I TAXODITJM. A genus of Coniferce, of 

 I the tribe Cupressinece, consisting of lofty 



trees, inhabiting for the most part the 

 I rich swampy soil of Florida and other 

 I southern states of North America. The 



branches are slender straight or drooping, 

 I and clothed with fine linear deciduous 

 I leaves arranged in two rows. The male 



catkins are in loose panicles ; the females 

 are roundish, and are composed of peltate 

 two-seeded scales, the seeds being destitute 

 of wings. 



T. distichum, the Deciduous Cypress, is 

 commonly seen in this country as an orna- 

 mental tree on lawns and in similar situa- 

 tions, where its feathery foliage renders it 

 an attractive object. In its native coun- 

 try its hark and wood are much used for 

 covering houses, for thin planks, ribs of 

 ships, water-conduits, and other purposes. 

 The roots sometimes bear large hollow 

 excrescences, which are made use of by the 

 negroes for beehives. The root is also ap- 

 plied to suppurating wounds. [M. T. M.] 



TAXOLOGY, TAXONOMY. That part 

 of Botany which relates to the laws of 

 classification. 



TAXUS. A 'well-known evergreen tree, 

 placed by some authors among the conifers, 

 from which, however, it is separated by 

 others, in consequence of the fruit not 

 being collected in cones, each ovule grow- 

 ing singly, unprotected by hardened scales; 

 so that this is a degree of organisation yet 

 lower than that of conifers themselves. 



T. baccata, the Common Yew, is charac- 

 terised by a trunk peculiarly suggestive of 

 massiveness and solidity, not being cover- 

 ed, like the trunks of most other trees, with 

 a splitting bark, but seemingly composed of 

 a number of smooth stems fused together. 

 The bark itself is of a reddish-brown 

 hue, and scales off in thin plates. At 

 the height of a few feet from the ground 

 it sends out numerous horizontal branches, 

 which spread in all directions, and are 

 densely clothed with tough twigs, leafy 

 throughout their whole extent or nearly 

 so. The leaves are thickly set on two 

 opposite sides of the stem, narrow, slightly 

 recurved, dark-green and shining above, 

 but paler below. The flowers, which are of 

 two kinds arid grow on separate trees, 

 appear among the leaves, and on the under- 

 side of the twigs. The barren flowers are 

 the most numerous, appearing in the form 

 of membranous scaly buds, from the centre 

 of each of which protrudes a slender co- 

 lumn, terminating in a tuft of stamens. 

 The fertile flower resembles a minute 

 acorn, the cup of which swells, and when 

 ripe has the appearance of red cornelian, 

 enclosing an oval brown nut, the summit 

 of which is uncovered. These berries, if 

 berries they may be called, drop when ripe, 

 and contain a sweet glutinous juice. They 

 are of a mawkish disagreeable taste, but 

 are eaten with impunity by children, and 

 greedily devoured by wasps, caterpillars, 

 and severalkinds of birds. Thenut contains 

 a kernel, which has an agreeable flavour 

 like that of the stone-pine. The leaves 

 are poisonous, though to what extent is 

 a disputed question; but of this there 

 can be do doubt, that their effects on 

 the human frame are deadly, and that to 

 irive them to cattle is a perilous experi- 

 ment. It appears from all accounts that 

 the poison is more virulent in the young 

 shoots than in any other part of the tree, 



