34 



The Irish Naturalist. 



February, 



THK OCCURRENCE OF YEW IN A PEAT BOG IN 

 QUEEN'S COUNTY. 



BY J. ADAMS, M.A. 

 Pi. ATE I. 



That the Yew must have been widely distributed in former 

 times over Ireland is evident from the large number of Irish 

 names containing the termination ure, or a modification of 

 it. And yet there are very few reliable records of its being 

 found in the peat bogs scattered over the country. At the 

 end of 1903 my attention was directed by Mr. R. D. Cole 

 to its occurrence in Ballyfin Bog, Queen's Co. Mr. Cole 

 informs me that it was so plentiful in former times that 

 the farmers in the neighbourhood used it for gate posts, 

 house roofs, &c. He very kindly obtained specimens of 

 the wood, of which Plate i i^A) is a photograph of a trunk 

 which had been lying prostrate, and, after being sawn 

 through close to the roots, was raised into the vertical posi- 

 tion to be photographed. Plate i (/?) is a photograph of a 

 cross section of the trunk. This cross section shows no less 

 than 395 annual rings. Possibly a few annual rings on the 

 outside had decayed, although in places the bark was still 

 attached, so that the age of the tree was somewhere about 400 

 years. The shape of the section, as shown in the photograph, 

 was peculiar, one diameter being much longer than that at 

 right angles to it. The longer diameter was 23^^^ inches, or, 

 assuming that a few rings were missing on the outside, about 

 2 feet. The annual rings varied greatly in breadth, the 

 broadest being 3 mm. {^^ of an inch), while 74 of the narrowest 

 measured 7 mm. (^V of an inch), or an average width of ^^^^ of 

 an inch for each ring. Another specimen was remarkable in 

 that it showed 123 annual rings occupying a width of 39 mm. 

 (iy\ of an inch;. 



The wood is undoubtedly Yew, as it consists entirely of 

 tracheids with bordered pits and spiral thickenings, and is 

 devoid of resin passages. Mr. Cole has presented a section 

 similar to that in the photograph to the National Museum. 



Royal College of Science, Dublin. 



