CONIFERS. 



773 



A numerous genus, nearly as widely spread as the Pines over the 

 northern hemisphere. 



1. Common Juniper. Juniperus communis, Linn. (Fig. 929.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1100.) 



A much branched, evergreen shrub, 

 sometimes procumbent, sometimes as- 

 cending or erect, 2, 3, or even 4 feet 

 high. Leaves in whorls of 3, linear, 

 spreading, ending in a prickly point, not 

 above 6 lines long, of a bright green 

 underneath, 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 Mediter- 

 ranean to the Arctic regions, and in northern America. Dispersed over 

 the British Isles, but more common in the north than in the south. 

 Fl. spring. A dwarf mountain variety, not uncommon in Scotland, 

 with a closely procumbent stem, and rather shorter, less prickly leaves, 

 has been distinguished as a species, under the name of J. nana (Eng. 

 Bot. Suppl. t. 2743). 



The cultivated species include the American red or pencil Cedar («7. 

 virginiana), the south European Savin (J. sahina), and several other 

 North American and Asiatic species. 



Fig. 929. 



III. YEW. TAXUS. 



Trees or shrubs, with evergreen linear leaves. Flowers mostly 

 dioecious. Catkins small, with empty, imbricated scales at the base ; 

 the males terminating in a cluster of stamens, each consisting of 3 to 

 8 anther-cells, under 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. Common Yew. Taxus baccata, Linn. (Fig. 930.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 746.) 

 A densely branched, dark, evergreen trees, not lofty, but attaining a 



