236 



CONIFERS. 



Taxus. 



Suborder III. TAXINEjE. L. C. Rich. The Yew Tribe. 



Flowers dioecious, or sometimes monoecious ; the sterile in small aments, which 

 are surrounded with scale-like bracts at the base. Anthers mostly 2-celled, 

 opening longitudinally. Fertile flowers solitary, terminal, consisting of an erect 

 or inverted ovule, which is bracteate at the base, surrounded with and sometimes 

 entirely enclosed in a disk, which at maturity is fleshy and drupaceous. 

 Embryo with 2 cotyledons. 



5. TAXUS. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 1799. yew. 



[Said to be derived from toxon, the Greek word for a bow ; on account of the use made of the wood.] 



Flowers dioecious. Sterile flowers consisting of peltate anthers in an ament : anther-cells 

 3 - 6 or more, inserted in the lobes of the connective. Fertile flower an erect ovule, with 

 an annular disk at its base, and invested with imbricated scales. Seed nut-like, seated in 

 the disk, which becomes a fleshy open cup. — Evergreen trees or shrubs, with linear acute 

 rigid leaves, which are more or less distinctly 2-rowed, 



5. Taxus Canadensis, Willd. American Yew. Ground Hemlock. 



Leaves distinctly 2-ranked, crowded, revolule ; sterile aments solitary, globose. — Willd. 

 sp. 4. p. 856 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 647 ; Bigel.fl. Bost. p. 371 ; Beck, bot. p. 341 ; Darlingt. ft. 

 Cest. p. 572 ; Audub. birds of Amer. t. 117. T. baccata, var. minor, Michx. fl. 2. p. 245 ; 

 Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 167. 



Stem rigid, usually straggling and diffuse, but sometimes rising 1 ■»■ 4 feet from the ground. 

 Leaves 6-8 lines long and about a line wide, of a deep shining green. Sterile aments 

 axillary, arising from little yellowish buds of imbricated scales. Fruit consisting of a naked 

 ovoid compressed seed, more or less deeply immersed in a bright red juicy cup or disk. 



Rocky banks, and in woods, particularly under the shade of evergreen trees. Fl. April. 

 Fr. August - September. Always a humble shrub with us, but in Oregon (if indeed that be 

 not a distinct species) it becomes a tree. Hooker and Michaux have regarded it as identical 

 with the European Yew. In the northern part of the State this plant is abundant, and it is 

 sparingly found in the valley of the Hudson. Mr. L. Menard found it as far south as Man- 

 hattanville, on the Island of New-York. 



