a, Part of a branch (of the natural size) showing the needle-like leaves in two opposite rows, and three fruits. The cup-like growth which is seen surrounding the naked seed is called an "aril." It is of a fine crimson colour, soft, juicy, and sweet-tasting. b, The young cone-like growth or "flower" of the yew, from the end of which one seed and its cup-like aril will develop. Magnified. c, The seed surrounded by the incompletely grown aril or cup at a later stage. Less highly magnified than b.] There is one truly native British example of the order Taxaceæ--the common yew tree, called "Taxus baccata" by botanists. Its leaves are "needles," like those of most conifers, but much flattened, and it has the sombre colour and the general aspect of some of the larger conifers. But its ovule-bearing flower, although it appears when young (Fig. 32, b) to be built up by several scale-like leaves like the cone of a conifer, does not continue in that form, and ceases to have any resemblance to a "cone." Only the terminal leaf or scale of the group enlarges and develops an ovule, and around this grows an open cup-like protection of the most delicate crimson colour--soft, sweet, and luscious (Fig. 32, c and a). It is as big as a pea, and is largely eaten by birds and by schoolboys! Yew trees have from time immemorial been planted and cared for in Great Britain, since its wood was formerly greatly valued for making archers' bows. Wild groves of yew trees, once existing, have been largely destroyed. Some of the finest are on the chalk hills of Surrey, where the yew flourishes alongside of the juniper. Very fine yew trees are often found growing, one or two together, in village churchyards, where they have been planted in remote times, just as cypress trees are to-day planted in cemeteries in the South of Europe. Yew trees with trunks from 30 to 50 feet in girth at 12 feet from the ground are known, and it is probable that some are as much as a thousand years old.