Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol01.djvu/128

 

TAXUS BACCATA, Yew

Taxus baccata, Linnæus, Sp. Pl. 1040 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iv. 2066 (1838); Lowe, Yew Trees of Great Britain and Ireland (1897); Kent, in Veitch's Man. Coniferæ, 126 (1900); Kirchner, Loew, and Schroter, Lebengesch. Blutenpfl. Mitteleuropas, i. 61 (1904).

 

The chief characters of the species have been given in the generic description. The different geographical forms are distinguished as follows:—

1. Var. typica. Common Yew.—A tree or shrub. Leaves falcate, acute, or acuminate, the apex diminishing gradually into a cartilaginous mucro; median nerve only slightly prominent above. Buds ovoid or globose, of closely imbricated brownish, rounded scales, usually not keeled on the back.

In certain Himalayan specimens the leaves are long and narrow, with a long acuminate apex, and the buds have keeled scales. Intermediate forms occur; and all Indian botanists and foresters seem to be agreed that the Himalayan yew cannot be separated from the European form even as a variety.^[1]

2. Var. cuspidata (Taxus cuspidata, S. et Z.^[2]), Japanese Yew.—A tree or shrub. Leaves straight, scarcely falcate, median nerve prominent above, apex giving off abruptly a short mucro. Buds oblong, composed of somewhat loosely imbricated scales, which are ovate, very acute and keeled. In cultivated specimens the under surface of the leaves is yellow in colour, the buds being bright chestnut brown.

3. Var. sinensis,^[3] Chinese Yew.—A tree. Leaves short, rigid, median nerve not prominent above, apex rounded and giving off abruptly a short mucro. Buds ovoid, brownish, composed of densely imbricated scales, which are ovate, obtuse, and not keeled.

4. Var. brevifolia (Taxus brevifolia, Nutt.^[4]), Pacific Coast Yew.—A tree. Leaves falcate, short, median nerve slightly prominent above, apex abruptly mucronate. Buds large, with loosely imbricated yellowish green scales, which are lanceolate, mucronate, and keeled.

5. Var. canadensis (Taxus canadensis, Marshall^[5]), Canadian Yew.—A low, prostrate shrub. Leaves narrow, falcate; median nerve slightly prominent above, apex abruptly mucronate. Buds globose, small, with somewhat loosely imbricated, greenish, ovate, obtuse, keeled scales.

6. Var. Floridana (Taxus floridana, Chapman^[6]), Florida Yew.—A shrub or

1. It has been described as a distinct species, Taxus Wallichiana, Zuccarini, in Abhand. K. Bayr. Akad. Wissensch. iii. 803, t. 5 (1843). Pilger, who ranks the different geographical forms as sub-species, keeps it separate from the European yew as sub-species Wallichiana.
2. Flora Jap. Fam. Nat. ii. 108 (1846); Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japan, i. 33, t. 15 (1899).
3. Taxus baccata, L., Masters, Index Flora Sinensis, ii. 546 (1902).
4. Nuttall, Sylv. iii. 86, t. 108 (1849); Sargent, Silva N. America, x. 65, t. 514 (1896).
5. Marshall, Arb. Amer. 151 (1785); Sargent, Silva N. America, x. 63 (1896). The plant cultivated at Kew as Taxus canadensis, var. aurea, a strong-growing, erect shrub, is apparently a variety of the common yew.
6. Chapman, Flora South United States, 436 (1860); Sargent, Silva N. America, x. 67, t. 515 (1896).