2. Juníperus Virginiàna, L. (Red Cedar.) Leaves very small and numerous, scale-like on the older branches, but awl-shaped and somewhat spreading on the young shoots; dark green. Fruit small, 1/5 in., abundant on the pistillate plants, dark purple and covered with fine, glaucous bloom. Trees from 20 to 80 ft. high (sometimes only shrubs), with mostly horizontal branches, thin, scaling bark, dense habit of growth, and dark foliage. Wood light, fine-grained, durable; the heart-wood of a handsome dark red color. Wild throughout; several varieties are found in cultivation. Many other species from China, Japan, California, etc., are occasionally cultivated, but few are large enough to be called trees, and those that are large enough are not of sufficient importance to need specific notice.
Genus 107. TÁXUS.
Leaves evergreen, flat, linear, mucronate, rigid, scattered, appearing more or less 2-ranked. Fertile flowers and the fruit solitary; the fruit, a nut-like seed in a cup-shaped, fleshy portion formed from a disk; red.
T. baccàta.
Táxus baccàta, L. (Common European Yew.) Leaves evergreen, 2-ranked, crowded, linear, flat, curved, acute. Fruit a nut-like seed within a cup 1/3 in. in diameter; red when ripe in the autumn. As this species is somewhat diœcious, a portion of the plants will be without fruit. A widely spreading shrub rather than a tree, extensively cultivated under nearly a score of named varieties. We have a closely related wild species, Táxus Canadénsis (The Ground-hemlock), which is merely a low straggling bush.
Genus 1O7a. TORRÈYA.
T. taxifòlia.
The Torreyas are much like the Yews, but their leaves have two longitudinal lines, and a remarkably disagreeable odor when burned or bruised. Torrèya taxifòlia, Arn., from Florida, and Torrèya Califòrnica, Torr., from California, have been often planted. They form small trees, but probably cannot be grown successfully in the region. The figure shows a twig of T. taxifolia.