202 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



but red cedar {Junipeims Virginiana) is also used for 

 tliat purpose. The first is not hardy in this country, the 

 latter is. 



Junipems Sabina, J. Phcenicia, and J. oxycedrus. Natives 

 of Syria and Palestine, and as they are all resinous and 

 aromatic, there can be httle doubt that one of them is the 

 " cedar wood"* ordered to be used by the Israelites in their 

 sacrifices in the wilderness, cedars of Lebanon being at that 

 time to them unknown. The word juniper occurs three 

 times in the Bible, but it does not belong to this family (see 

 Broom). Juniperus Sahina is admitted into the London 

 Pharmacopoeia as a medical plant. It is of a poisonous 

 nature. 



The Yew Family. 



(Taxace^.) 



Shrubs, or trees, some with their branches in whorls. 

 Leaves perennial, firm, acerose, subulate, linear or elliptic- 

 lanceolate, smooth, with a midrib only, or with longitudinal 

 veins. Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Males in spiked 

 catkins ; female solitary, peduncle thick and fieshy, bearing 

 a naked ovule, which becomes a nut seed. (Phyllocladus and 

 Salishuria are exceptions, which see.) 



This family consists of about 150 species, all widely dis- 

 tributed over the temperate and warm regions. They are 

 useful for timber. 



Yew {Taxus baccata). A native of the temperate regions 

 of Europe and Asia. It is famed for its age and the dura- 

 bility of its wood, remains having been found in the ruins of 

 ancient Nineveh. It is much planted as an ornamental tree, 

 and is also used in forming hedges. 



The berries are not actually poisonous, and although not 

 of very agreeable taste are sometimes eaten by children ; in 

 winter they form a great supply of food to the feathered 



Leviticus, chap. xiv. ver. 4. 



