diverse habit, but generally with dense spreading branches, thickly covered with very dork green linear leaves, which are given off from all sides of the branch, but which, owing to a twist in the base of the leaf, become arranged in a single series on each side of it. The trees are usually dioecious, the male flowers being borne on one individual and the female on another, although instances occur in which flowers of both sexes are formed on the same tree. The male flowers are more or less globular and occur in the axils of the leaves. They consist of a number of overlapping brownish scales, gradually increasing in size from below upwards and surrounding a naked stalk that bears at its summit a head of four to eight stamens. Each stamen has a flat five-lobed top, something like a shield; from its under surface, five, six or more pollen cases hang down, and these open lengthwise to liberate the globose pollen-grains. The female flowers are also placed each separately in the axil of a leaf, and consist of a number of overlapping scales, as in the male. These scales surround a cup which is at first shallow, green and thin (the so-called aril), but which subsequently becomes fleshy and red, while it increases so much in length as almost entirely to conceal the single straight seed. It is clear that the structure of the female flower differs from that of most conifers, from which it is now often separated in a distinct order, Taxaceae.
The poisonous properties, referred to by classical writers such as Caesar, Virgil and Livy, reside chiefly if not entirely in the foliage. This, if eaten by horses or cattle, especially when it has been cut and thrown in heaps so as to undergo a process of fermentation, is very injurious. The leaves have also been used for various medicinal purposes, but are not employed now. An alkaloid toxine, said to depress the circulation, is extracted. It forms white crystals soluble in alcohol and ether. As a timber tree the yew is used for cabinet-work, axle-trees, bows and the like, where strength and durability are required.
The yew occurs wild over a large area of the northern hemisphere. In N.E. America and in Japan trees are found of a character so similar that by some botanists they are all ranged under one species. Generally, however, the European yew, T. baccata, is regarded as native of Europe, N. Africa, and Asia as far as the Himalayas and the Amur region, while the American and Japanese forms are considered to represent distinct species. The yew is wild in Great Britain, forming a characteristic feature of the chalk downs of the southern counties and of the vegetation of parts of the Lake District and elsewhere. The evidence of fossil remains, antiquities and place-names indicates that it was formerly more widely spread in Europe than at the present day. The varieties grown in the United Kingdom are numerous, one of the most striking being that known as the Irish yew—a shrub with the pyramidal or columnar habit of a cypress, in which the leaves spread from all sides of the branches, not being twisted, as they usually are, out of their original position. In the ordinary yew the main branches spread more or less horizontally, and the leaves are so arranged as to be conveniently exposed to the influence of the light; but in the variety in question the branches are mostly vertical, and the leaves assume a direction in accordance with the ascending direction of the branches. The plants have all sprung from one of two trees found growing wild more than a hundred years ago on the mountains of Co. Fermanagh in Ireland, and afterwards planted in the garden of Florence Court, a seat of the earl of Enniskillen.
The yew is a favourite evergreen tree, either for planting separately or for hedges, for which its dense foliage renders it well suited. Its dense growth when pruned has led to its extensive use in topiary work, which was introduced by John Evelyn and became very prevalent at the close of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries. The wood is very hard, close-grained and of a deep red brown colour internally. The planting of the yew in churchyards was at one time supposed to have been done with a view to the supply of yew staves. But, while importation from abroad was fostered, there seems to have been no statute enforcing the cultivation of the yew in Great Britain; a statute, however, of Edward I. (cited in The Cardeners' Chronicle, 6th March 1880, p. 306) states that the trees were often planted in churchyards to defend the church from high winds. The Crowhurst yew, mentioned by Evelyn as 30 ft. in circumference, still exists. The large yew at Ankerwyke, near Staines, with a trunk 3034 ft. in circumference, in sight of which Magna Carta was signed (1215), probably exceeds a thousand years of age. The fine yew in Buckland churchyard, near Dover, was removed in 1880 to a distance of 60 yds. The trunk had been split so that it had a direction nearly parallel with the soil. This huge tree was moved with a ball of soil round its roots, 16 ft. 5 in. by 15 ft. 8 in., by 3 ft. 612 in. in depth, the weight of the entire mass being estimated at 56 tons. The dimensions of the tree in 1880 were as follows: "circumference of the main trunk, 22 ft.; of the upright portion of the trunk, 6 ft. 10 in.; second horizontal trunk, 10 ft. 10 in.; do., south limb forking off at 9 ft. from the main trunk, 7 ft. 10 in.; do., west limb forking off at 9 ft. from the main trunk, 8 ft. 8 in.; extent of branches from centre of main trunk southwards, 30 ft. 10 in., and from north to south, 48 ft.; they extend from the main trunk westward 33 ft." The tree was replanted so that the horizontal portions were replaced in their original erect position and the natural symmetry restored.
For further details see Veitch, Manual of Coniferae (1900); Elwes and Henry, Trees of Great Britain and Ireland (1906).
YEZD, or Yazd, a province of Persia, bounded S. by Kerman,
W. by Fars and Isfahan, and N. and E. by the central Persian
deserts. It contains an area of about 20,000 sq. m., but its
population barely exceeds 100,000, of whom about half inhabit
the capital of the province. Its subdivisions are: (1) the city
of Yezd and immediate environs, (2) Ardakan, (3) Bafk,
(4) Taft, (5) Kuhistan (Pish Kuh, Mian Kuh, Pusht Kuh, on the
slopes and in the valleys of the Shir Kuh, a part of the great
Central Range of Persia W. of the city of Yezd, and rising to an
elevation of 11,000 ft.), and (6) Shahr i Babek. The last is
situated far S. near Kerman, and sometimes is regarded as part
of that province. The revenues slightly exceed £60,000 a year.
Much silk is grown in the district, but is not sufficient for
the silk stuffs which Yezd manufactures with its 1000 looms,
and raw silk (about 75,000 ℔ yearly) has to be obtained from
Khorasan and Gilan. Great quantities of felts (nimads), white
and yellow cotton stuffs, the latter a kind of nankeen made
of Gossypium herbaceum, are also manufactured and exported.
Other exports are opium, madder and almonds. The grain
produced suffices for only two or three months' consumption,
and supplies have to be brought from Khorasan, so that wheat
and barley are dearer than at other places in Persia. The
part of the district situated in the plain is much exposed to
moving sands, which render cultivation difficult and at times
impossible.
YEZD, the capital of the province of the same name in
Persia, situated 192 m. N.W. of Kerman, 162 m. S.E. of
Isfahan, in 31° 54′ N. and 54° 22′ E., at an elevation of 4240 ft.
Its population, 100,000 in 1810, is now estimated at 50,000,
including 2000 Jews and 1300 Zoroastrians.[1] The city is divided
into the Shahr i nau (new town) and Shahr i kohneh (old town),
separated by a wall with two gates. The ark, or citadel, in
the E. of the town, is fortified with walls, bastions and dry
ditch, and contains the governor's residence. The bazaar is in
good repair and well stocked, other parts of the town are
irregularly planned, with dark, narrow streets. There are
eighteen mosques, one, the Masjed i Jama, also called Masjed i
Mir Chakhmak, is an old and decayed structure originally built
in 1119, with a lofty and imposing frontage dating from 1472.
There are seven colleges. The caravanserais number thirty-three.
There are telegraph (English staff since 1903) and post
offices. The Englishman in charge of the telegraph office acts
as British vice-consul.
YEZIDIS, a sect of devil-worshippers, calling themselves Dasni, who are found in Kurdistan, Armenia and the Caucasus. Their religion has points of connexion with old Iranian and Assyrian beliefs and traces of Manichaeism and Nestorianism. Thus they regard the devil as the creative agent of the Supreme God, a reinstated fallen angel who is the author of evil. They avoid mentioning his name and represent him by the peacock. They regard Christ as an angel in human form and recognize
- ↑ In 1879 the Zoroastrian community of Yezd numbered 6483, 1242 residing in the city, 5241 in the villages, in 1892 the community numbered 6908, and as many have emigrated, it is computed that it now numbers not more than 7000.
