THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
JANUARY,  1906. 
LONDON  BOTANIC  GARDENS. 
By  Pierre  Eue  Feux  Perredes,  B.Sc,  F.L.S., 
Pharmaceutical  Chemist. 
A  Contribution  from  the  Wellcome  Research  Laboratories,  London. 
{Continued from  p.  569,  December,  1905.) 
Before  proceeding  with  the  description  of  the  Arboretum  and 
Botanic  Gardens  a  few  additional  historical  facts  connected  with 
these  will  be  noted.  The  Botanic  Gardens,  at  the  time  of  Sir  Wm. 
Hooker's  appointment  to  the  directorate,  included  the  remains  of  an 
old  Arboretum  which  had  been  begun  from  70  to  80  years  pre- 
viously. The  disintegration  of  that  Arboretum  dates  from  1830, 
when  the  boundary  wall  dividing  the  gardens  from  the  public  road 
leading  to  Brentford  Ferry  was  removed.  As  the  trees  were  thus 
deprived  of  the  protection  which  this  wall  had  afforded,  many  of 
them  were  blown  down,  others  have  since  perished  from  old  age 
and  decay,  and  the  few  remaining  ones,  growing  near  the  main 
entrance  on  Kew  Green,  are  of  no  interest  to  us. 
One  the  most,  if  not  the  most,  considerable  collection  of  trees  is 
the  Pinetum,  brought  to  its  present  high  level  of  excellence  by  the 
former  Director,  Sir  J.  D.  Hooker.  It  surrounds  the  nursery  on  the 
south  side  of  the  lake,  skirts  the  Queen's  Cottage  grounds  on  its 
western  boundary,  and  is  traversed  by  a  grass  walk  known  as  the 
"Cedar  Vista"  (see  Plate  I).  The  collection  contains  a  large 
number  of  American  conifers,  and  the  plants  are  so  arranged  that 
the  Old  World  species  are  placed  opposite  to  the  American  species 
of  the  same  genera. 
Here  are  to  be  found  the  poisonous  yew  (  Taxus  baccata,  L. )  and  its  varie- 
ties ;  the  four  junipers  yielding  products  used  in  medicine,  viz.:  Juniperus 
(1) 
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