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Manual of the Southeastern Flora - Small
Copyright - UNC Press 1998, 1999. All Rights Reserved.


2. TAXUS Tourn.] L.


2. TAXUS [Tourn.] L. Diffuse shrubs, or trees. Leaves leathery. Staminate ament with mostly 6-8 pollen-sacs under each scale. Ovulate ament with 1 ovule each. Seed nut-like, surrounded by the pulpy aril, except the apex. - About 6 species, of wide geographic distribution. A shrubby one occurs in NE N. A. and may extend into NW N.C., and an arboreous kind ranges west of the continental divide. The European species was formerly much used in ecelesiastical ceremonies, and much superstition was associated with the tree. - YEWS.

1. T. floridana Nutt. Tree becoming 6 m. tall, pleasant-scented when bruised: leaf-blades narrowly linear, 1-2 cm. long; sharply apiculate: aril light-red, 6-10 mm. long, the seed ovoid, 5-7 mm. long. - (YEW. FLORIDA-YEW.) - Bluffs and woods along the Apalachicola River, and tributary streams, Fla. - Spr. - Less common than TORREYA. On account of its smaller size, limited distribution and comparative scarcity, it has not been used economically. The heart-wood is light-brown.