76 
WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES. 
the disk develops into a red wax-like cup around the enlarging 
seed with its olive-green coat. The flesh of the cup is full of 
sweet mucilage, which makes the fruit acceptable to children, 
but the flavour is rather too mawkish to suit older tastes. Yew- 
berries are not poisonous, as sometimes supposed ; neither is the 
contained kernel, which has a pleasant nutty flavour. Much has 
been said and written as to the toxic property of Yew-leaves, and 
it appears that though cattle and goats may browse upon them 
with impunity, horses and human beings pay the penalty of 
death for such indulgence. That word toxic, by the way, owes 
its significance to the Yew. The tree was named taxus in Latin, 
from the Greek toxo7t (a bow), because of the ancient repute of 
its wood for making that instrument. The tree was held to be 
