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Taxus celebica (Warb.) Li

Modern name

Taxus sumatrana (Miq.) de Laub.

Synonyms

Cephalotaxus celebica Warb.; T. chinensis (Pilg.) Rehd., in part; T. mairei (Lemée & Lévl.) S. Y. Hu; Tsuga mairei Lemée & Lévl.; Taxus speciosa Florin

A tree to about 50 ft high in the wild, a spreading shrub as seen in Britain. The leaves are mostly rather longer than in the common yew and relatively wider, slightly falcate, pectinately arranged, and in cultivated plants are rather distantly arranged on the branchlet. The stomatal bands are yellowish green beneath, and are not papillose as in T. wallichiana.

T. celebica is the most widely distributed yew in China, except in the north, and also occurs in Formosa, the Philippines and Celebes. It was introduced by Wilson in 1908 from Szechwan, and seeds may later have been sent by Forrest, who collected it several times in fruit in N.W. Yunnan. It was at first grown as T. chinensis but, as pointed out in previous editions, it is quite different from the collections on which the name T. chinensis is founded (see T. wallichiana). T. celebica is of no ornamental value in this country and is represented only in a few collections. Plants in the National Pinetum at Bedgebury are 15 to 20 ft tall. Fruits do not ripen in this country.


Genus

Taxus

Other species in the genus