PINE FAMILY. 



343 



Shrubby, or a STnaU tree, 20 - 50 feet high ; bark of the trunk separating in loose scales or 

 ribbons, that of the small branches purplish and smooth. Berries small, purplish, with a 

 glaucous bloom. 



Common on dry hills. 



Obs. This tree, which is common in all parts of the country, is one 

 of the most widely extended in geographical range, it being found also 

 in Europe and Asia ; in high northern latitudes it becomes a prostrate 

 shrub. The wood is exceedingly durable, very light and close-grained ; 

 the heart wood is red, and is used in making lead pencils ; it is also 

 used for the manufacture of pails and tubs, and is employed in ship and 

 boat building. * 



8. TAX'US, Tournef. Yew. 



[Probably from the Greek, Taxon, a bow ; the wood being used for bows.] 



Flowers mostly dioecious, axillary, from scaly buds. Staminate aments 

 globular, small, composed of naked stamens; anther-cells 3-6, clustered 

 under a shield-shaped and somewhat lobed connective. Fertile flow- 

 ers solitary, scaly-bracted at base, consisting merely of a solitary naked 

 ovule seated in a cup-shaped disk which finally becomes pulpy and ben-y- 

 like, — sometimes nearly enclosing the seed. Cotyledons 2. Leaves ever- 

 green, linear, rigid, mostly 2-ranked ; pulp of the disk orange red. 



1. T. bacca'ta, L. a low tree, finally with a large trunk ; leaves 

 acute, nearly flat, deep green, two-ranked or sometimes crowded round 

 the branches. 



Berried Taxus. Common Yew. 



stem (in this country) but a few feet high ; branches numerous and spreading. Leaves 

 1^-1)^ inch long, mostly two-ranked. 

 Cultivated : Native of Europe. Fl. April. Fr. Oct. 



Obs. Frequently cultivated in rural cemeteries and church-yards. A 

 variety called the Irish Yew has compact branches and densely crowded 

 leaves. We have an indigenous Yew which was formerly considered 

 as a distinct species, but is now regarded as a variety of this, viz. : var. 

 Canaden'sis, Gray. A low diffusely branching shrub ; leaves two- 

 ranked. 



American Yew. Ground Hemlock. 



2-4 feet high, with straggling branches. Leaves >^-%of an inch long, entire, 

 dark green on both sides, narrowed at base into a very short petiole. 

 Common northward and southward on the mountains. 



9. SALISBU'RIA, Smith. Gingko. 



[Dedicated to Anthony Salisbury ; an English Botanist.] 



Staminate aments axillary, filiform, pedunculate ; anther-cells pendu- 

 lous from the lacerated scale-like connective. Fertile flowers termi- 

 nal, solitary, on simple or fasciculately branching peduncles ; ovule naked, 



