Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/790

744 in size from below upwards and surrounding a naked stalk that bears at its summit a head of anthers. Each anther 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. Each flower thus consists of a number of monadelphous stamens ; but, according to the older view of its structure, each stamen constitutes of itself a single flower, the whole mass being considered as an amentaceous inflorescence or catkin of numerous monandrous flowers. 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, 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 ; but the structure of the wood and other characters forbid its being separated from them except as a subdi vision (Taxacex).

Yew. (1) Shoot with male flowers ; (2) leaf and in section, magnified ; (3) fruit ; (4) male flowers ; (5) stamens ; (6), (7) female flower in different stages ; (8) section of female flowers, magnified.

The poisonous properties, referred to by classical writers such as Caesar, Virgil, and Livy, reside chiefly if not en tirely 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 pur poses, but are seldom employed now. The succulent por tion of the yew berry is quite harmless ; but it is probable that some noxious principle is contained in the seed. As, however, it is hard and disagreeable to the taste, the danger from this source is not great. As a timber tree it is used for cabinet-work, axle-trees, bows, and the like, where strength and durability are required. The yew occurs wild over a very large area of the northern hemisphere. In north-eastern America and in Japan trees are found of a character so similar that by some botanists they are all ranged under one species. The varieties grown in the United Kingdom are very 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 ar ranged 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.

1em  YEZD. See,.  YEZO. See.  YOH-CHOW FU, a in the   of  (“south of the ”), stands on high ground on the east side of the outlet of, in 29° 18′N. and 113° 2′E. The district in which Yoh-chow Fu stands is the ancient habitat of the , who were subsequently  into north-western , and who, judging from some of the non-  s of the people, would appear to have left s behind them. The present, which was in , is about 3 in  and is entered by four s. The  are high and well , but were not strong enough to keep out the  in. Situated between and the, Yoh-chow Fu forms a  for the native products of the  which are destined for , and for  on their way inland. In  to the value of 28,228  were sent from  to Yoh-chow Fu, the principal items being grey, , and. The is 4250  from, and contains a  of about 60,000.  YOKOHAMA, situated in 35° 26′ 53″N. and 139° 38′ 39″E. (see map in ), is the most important of the five s in  open by  to  and, both on account of its 