Juniperus. | LXXIV. CONIFER. 417 
neath, glaucous and concave above. Catkins scarcely above a line long. 
Berries globular, of a dark purple-blue, the size of a large pea. 
On rather dry, barren hills, in Europe and Russian Asia, from the Medi- 
terranean to the Arctic regions, and in northern America, Dispersed over 
the British Isles, but more common in the north than in the south. 7. 
spring. A dwarf variety, occurring on the mountains of North Wales, 
Westmoreland, and in Scotland, with rather shorter, less prickly leaves, is 
the J. nana, Willd. 
The cultivated species include, amongst others, the American ved or 
pencil Cedar (J. virginiana, Linn.), and the south European Savin (J. 
Sabina, Linn.). 
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Ill. TAXUS. YEW. 
Trees or shrubs, with evergreen linear leaves. Flowers mostly dicecious. 
Catkins small, with empty, imbricated scales at the base; the males ter- 
minating in a cluster of stamens, each consisting of 3 to 8 anther-cells, 
within a shield-like:scale or connectivum; the females of a single erect 
ovule, with a small cup-shaped disk round its base. Fruit a hard seed, 
partly imbedded in a pulpy, berry-like cup. 
A small genus, extending all round the northern hemisphere. 
1, T. baccata, Linn. (fig. 936). Common Yew.—A densely branched, 
dark, evergreen tree, not lofty, but attaining a great age, with a thick 
trunk and hard wood. Leaves 6 to 9 lines long, inserted all round the 
branches, but spreading in one plane in two opposite ranks, convex and 
shining on the upper side. Catkins very small, in the axils of the leaves. 
Fruits, though small, conspicuous by their bright red, half-transparent, 
juicy cups. ; 
Dispersed over Europe, north and central Asia, and North America. 
Common in Britain, having been much planted in early times; indigenous 
in hilly districts in England, southern Scotland, and northern Ireland. 
Fl. spring. The Irish or Florence- Court Yew, a shrub with erect branches, 
is a garden variety of 7. baccata. 
Cuass IT. MONOCOTYLEDONS. 
Stem not distinguishable into pith, wood, and bark, but con 
sisting of bundles of fibres, irregularly imbedded in cellular 
tissue, and-in woody species a firmly adherent rind outside. 
Seeds with one cotyledon, the embyro undivided, the young 
stem being developed from a sheath-like cavity on one side. 
Besides the above positive characters, Monocotyledons may be generally 
known by their simple, entire, alternate or radical leaves, with simple 
parallel veins, the base usually encircling or sheathing the stem or the base 
of the next leaf; and the parts of the flower are most frequently in threes, 
the calyx and corolla, when present, being generally similar in appearance, 
forming a single perianth of six parts. In several families, however, the 
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