■ ' \ ' vr\ ' v 
Lib. j. Of the Hiftory of Plants. uyi 
fmalldufty things like floures, of the colour of the husks - 7 and if youfhall beate or throw ftones 
into this tree about the end of Februarie, or a goodfpace after, there will proceed and fly from 
thefe floures anaboundanceofduftie fmoke. Thefe dufty floures continue on the trees till about 
l:arueft,and then fome and fome fall away, and (hortly after the round buds come vp as afore- 
faid. 
•[ rtt Place. 
Thefe trees are both very common in England: in Hampfhire there is good plentie of them 
growing wilde on the chalkie hills, and in Church-yards where they hauc been planted. 
The Time. 
The time is exprefled in their deferiptions. Dec. 19. 1621. Iohn Goedycr. £ 
The Names. 
This tree is named by Diofcorides , VMf • by Theophrafius , : but Nicander in his book of Coun- 
terpoyfons,ipiV( • Galen doth alfo call it ii.» : it is named ift Latine Tax ns : in high-Dutch, (Bp: 
benbaum : in low-Dutch, Jbctlboom : in Italian, T ajfo ■ in Spanifh, Ti?*Mnd Taxo in French, Tf: 
in Englifh, Ewe, or Yew tree : in thevnlearned fhops of Germany, if any ofthemremaine,it is cal- 
led Tamar feus ; where in times paft they were wont not without great error, to mix the bark hereof 
in compound medicines, in ftead ofthe Tamariske barke. 
The Temperature. 
The Yew tree, as Galen reporteth, is of a venomous qualitie,and againft mans natur t. Diofcorides 
writeth, and generally all that heretofore haue dealt in the facultieof Herbarifme,thatthe Yew 
tree is very venomous tobe taken inwardly, and that if any doe fleepe vnder the fhadow thereof it 
caufeth ficknefle and oftentimes death. Moreouer, they fay that the fruit thereof being eaten is 
not onely dangeroiis and deadly vntoman,but if birds do eat thereof, it caufeth them to caft their 
feathers, and many times to die. All which I dare boldly atfirme is altogether vnrrue : for when I 
was yong and went to fchoole, d iuers of my fchoole-fellowes and likewile my felfe did eat our fils 
ofthe berries ofthis tree, and haue not only flept vnder the fhadow thereof, but among the bran- 
ches alfo, without any hurt at all, and that not one time, but many times. T heophraftus faith, That 
wry., animalist, Gafa tranflates them lumens a, ox labouring beafts, do die, if they do eat of the Ieaues ; 
but fuch cattell as chew their cud receiue no hurt at all thereby. 
Nicander in his book of Counterpoifons doth reckon the Yew tree among the venomous plants, 
fetting downe alfo a remedie, and that in thefe words, as Gorrnus hath tranflated them. 
Farce venenata T txo, qua furgit in Oct a 
Abictibus ftmilis , lethoque abfumit acerho 
Ni prater moremplcno crater e meraca 
Funderevina pares, cum primum fentiet siger 
x^irclari obttrutlas fauces ammaque canalem. 
% Shun th’ poys’nous Yew, the which on Oeta graves, 
Like to the Firre, it caufes bitter death, 
Vnlefle befides thy vfe pure wine that flowes 
From empty’d cups, thou drinke, when as thy breath 
Begins to faile, and pafTage of thy life 
Growes ftrait. 
i’c«4andXoit/alfoobferued that which our Author here affirmes,anddayly experience fhewes 
it to be true, that the Yew tree in England is not poyfonous: yet diuers affirme, that in Prouince 
in France, and in moft hot countries, it hath fuch a maligne qualitie, that it is not fafe to fleepe or 
long to reft vnder the fhadow thereof. £ 
C h a p . 48. Ofthe funiper tree. 
The Kinder. 
A Mong the luniper trees one is lefl'er, another greater, being a ftrange and forreine tree : one of 
ft t jj e fg bringeth forth a floure and no fruit ; the other fruit and no floures, 
TheDefcription. 
i *-p common luniper tree gtoweth in fome parts of Kent vnto the ftature and bignes of 
X a fa* lIe great tree,butmoft commonly it growes very low like vntoground Fur,es . tin 
