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The ash, the beach, some willows, many other trees and some finer species of garden-plants, as Sophora japonica, have given rise to weeping varieties, and the yew-tree or Taxus has a fastigiate form which is much valued because of its ascending branches and pyramidal habit. So it is with the pyramidal varieties of oaks, elms, the bastard-acacia and some others.
Gigantic oaks spread their branches above cliffs and summits, where in less favored climes only the cold pine would be able to find a scanty subsistence; while the spray of the Black Sea is dashed against the immense stems of the blood-wooded taxus, and the red and almond-leaved willows sweep with their long branches the waves.
There was a Tasso once in England, ambassador of Philip the Second; another, like Cervantes, distinguished himself at the battle of Lepanto; and a third gave rise to the sovereign German house of Tour and Taxis. Taxus is the Latin of Tasso. The Latin word, like the Italian, means both a badger and a yew-tree; and the family in general appear to have taken it in the former sense.
This grass has been known in the Isle of Thanet and other places to produce a disease in the mouths of horses, by the panicles of the grass penetrating the skin. WATER-HEMLOCK. Phellandrium aquaticum. YEW. Taxus baccata. This is poisonous to cattle: farmers and other persons should be careful of this being thrown where sheep or cattle feed in snowy weather.
Other instances could easily be added, though of course some of the most highly prized broom-like trees are so old that nothing is known about their origin. This, for instance, is the case with the pyramidal yew-tree, Taxus baccata fastigiata. Others have been found wild, as already mentioned in a former lecture.
Pinus abies, spruce fir. Taxus baccata, yew. Nuphar luteum, yellow water-lily. Ceratophyllum demersum, hornwort. Potamogeton, pondweed. Prunus spinosus, common sloe. Menyanthes trifoliata, buckbean. Nymphaea alba, white water-lily. Alnus, alder. Quercus, oak. Betula, birch.
A shrub of large growth; and being less affected by the sea breeze than any others, is useful to form a shelter in situations where the bleak winds will not admit of trees of more tender kinds to flourish. TAXUS baccata.
Secrecy and silence surrounded them, and extreme care had been taken to let no one suspect, excepting a few intimate friends, what was taking place on this sequestered, leaf-embowered grass-plat of St. Cloud. A bench of white marble, surrounded by high oleander and taxus trees, stood at the side of this grass-plat.
The rich and luxuriant carpets of the many varieties of box, thuya, taxus, and dwarf pine, in dark, somber greens and many lighter color variations, are superb. In the Court of Abundance great masses of orange trees furnish the dominant note. They are most effective with their branches heavily laden with fruit.
It is curious to note that the analogous variety of the European yew, Taxus baccata fastigiata, though much more commonly cultivated than the Cephalotaxus, never reverts, at least as far as I have been able to ascertain. This clearly corroborates the explanation given above.
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