Yew Or Common Yew scientifically known as Taxus baccata is a species of evergreen tree in the Taxaceae (Yew family). The plant is native to western, central and southern Europe (including the British Isles), northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may now be known as common yew, English yew, Irish Yew or European yew. It is primarily grown as an ornamental. Most parts of the plant are poisonous, and consumption of the foliage can result in death.

Genus name is an old Latin name for yews. Specific epithet means fruit-bearing in reference to the showy red arils. No tree is more associated with the history and legends of Great Britain than the Yew. Before Christianity was introduced it was a sacred tree favored by the Druids, who built their temples near these trees – a custom followed by the early Christians. The association of the tree with places of worship still prevails.

Yew or Common Yew Facts

Yew Quick Facts
Name:	Yew
Scientific Name:	Taxus baccata
Origin	Western, central and southern Europe (including the British Isles), northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia
Colors	Initially green turning to red as they mature
Shapes	Ornamentally-attractive, berry-like fruits, each having a single seed 4–7 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long,
Flesh colors	Red
Taste	Very sweet and a bit like a lychee
Health benefits	Beneficial for epilepsy, asthma, indigestion, bronchitis, hiccup, rheumatism, cystitis, eruptions, headaches, heart and kidney problems, dimness of vision, gout, breast cancer and ovarian cancer

Name	Yew or Common Yew
Scientific Name	Taxus baccata
Native	Western, central and southern Europe (including the British Isles), northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia
Common Names	Common yew, English yew, European yew, Yew, Irish Yew
Name in Other Languages	Afrikaans: Taxus Albanian: Bërshen, Tis Amharic: Eewo (አዎ) Arabic: Khashab altuqsus (خشب الطقسوس), dakhs, taqsus tuti (طقسوس توتي) Armenian: keni (կենի), keni hataptghayin (կենի հատապտղային) Azerbaijani: Yew, Giləmeyvəli qaraçöhrə Basque: Hagin, hagina, Hagin arrunt Belarusian: Tsis (ціс), cis jeŭrapiejski (ціс еўрапейскі) Bengali: L’u kāṣṭha (ইউ কাষ্ঠ) Bosnian: Tisa, Tisa (biljka) Breton: Ivin (gwez) Bulgarian: Tys (тис), obiknoven tis (обикновен тис) Catalan: Teix, teixero Cebuano: Yew Chichewa: Yew Chinese: Hóngdòu shān (红豆杉), ou zhou hong dou shan (欧洲红豆杉) Cornish: Ewin Corsican: Tassu Croatian: Tisa, šumska tisa Czech: Tis, Tis cervený Danish: Taks, Almindelig taks, Barlind, Norsk ibenholt Dutch: Taxusboom, Gewone taxus, Taxus English: Common yew, English yew, European yew, Yew, Irish Yew Esperanto: Taksuso, Eŭropa taksuso Estonian: Jugapuu, harilik jugapuu, Filipino: Yew Finnish: Marjakuusi, Euroopanmarjakuusi French: Yew, if, If commun, if d’Europe, if à baies, ifreteau Frisian: Taks Galician: Teixo, teixeiro Georgian: Utkhovari (უთხოვარი) German: Eibe, Beereneibe, Europäische Eibe, Gemeine Eibe, Gewöhnliche Eibe, Ifenbaum Greek: Pournári (πουρνάρι), Ímero élato (Ήμερο έλατο), ítamos (ίταμος), ragofóros (ραγοφόρος), Déndro tou thanátou (Δένδρο του θανάτου), Mavroélato (Μαυροέλατο), Táxos ragofóros (Τάξος ραγοφόρος) Gujarati: Yū (યૂ) Haitian Creole: If Hausa: Yew Hawaiian: ʻē Hebrew: טקסוס, טקסוס מעונב Hindi: Yū (यू) Hmong: Yew Hungarian: Tiszafa, Európai tiszafa, közönséges tiszafa Icelandic: Yew, Ýviður Igbo: Yew Indonesian: Yew Ingush: Baza (База) Irish: Iúir Italian: Tasso, Albero della morte, Libo, Nasso, tasso comune Japanese: Ichī (イチイ), Yōroppaichii (ヨーロッパイチイ) Javanese: Yew Kabyle: Teyfuzzel Kannada: Yū (ಯೂ) Kashubian: Zwëczajny cës Kazakh: YU (Ю) Khmer: Yew Kinyarwanda: Yew Korean: Yeu (예우) Kurdish (Kurmanji): Yew Kyrgyz: Yew Lao: Yew Latin: Taxi torquentur Latvian: Ive, Parasta ive Lithuanian: Kukmedis, europinis kukmedis Luxembourgish: Yew, Franséische Pällem Macedonian: Tys (Тис), obychna tysa (обична тиса) Malagasy: Yew Malay: Yew Malayalam: Oru (ഒരു) lley, ṭāksas bakkāṭṭa (ടാക്സസ് ബക്കാട്ട) Maltese: Yew Manx: Euar Maori: Yew Marathi: Garda hiravyā raṅgācī pānē asalēlā ēka sadāparṇī vr̥kṣa (गर्द हिरव्या रंगाची पाने असलेला एक सदापर्णी वृक्ष) Mongolian: Yuyeü (Юеү) Myanmar (Burmese): Yew Nepali: Yew, barmesalla (बर्मेसल्ला) Norwegian: Barlind, Norsk ibenholt Odia: Ham̐ (ହଁ) Ossetic: Zaz (Заз) Pashto: یوځل Persian: سرخدار, سرخدار Polish: Cis, Cis pospolity Portuguese: Teixo Punjabi: ਯੂ Pushto: اروپايي ټاکسوس Romanian: Tisă Romansh: Taisch Russian: Tis (тис), tis yagodnyi (Тис ягодный), tiss âgodnyj, tiss evropejskij, nehnoy derevo (негной дерево), (тис европейский) Samoan:: Ioe Scots Gaelic: Iubhair, Iogh, Iubhar, Iubharan Serbian: Tis (тис), Cis, Sis, evropska tysa (европска тиса), tysa (тиса) Sesotho : Japanese yew Shambala: Tisa Shona: Yew Sindhi: يار Sinhala: Yū (යූ) Slovak: Tis, Tis obycajný Slovenian: Tisa Somali: Yew Spanish: Tejo, taxo, tejo común, tejón, Navadna tisa Sundanese: Yeuh Swahili: Yew Swedish: Idegran, Euroopanmarjakuusi, Idgran Tajik: Yew Tamil: யூ Tatar: Jə (йә) Telugu: Yū (యూ) Thai: T̂n yū (ต้นยู) Turkish: Porsukağacı, Porsuk, yaygın porsuk Turkmen: Yew Ukrainian: Tys (тис), tys yahidnyy (тис ягідний) Upper Sorbian: Wšědny ćis Urdu: یو, یورپی سرخدار Uyghur: Yew Uzbek: Tis Vietnamese: Thủy tùng, thanh tùng châu Âu Welsh: Ywen, Pren Yw, Yw, Xhosa: Yew Yiddish: Yw (יו) Yoruba: Yew Zulu: Yew
Plant Growth Habit	Long-lived, medium sized, evergreen, conifer tree
Growing Climates	Hedgerows, woodland, churchyards, parks and shady field edges and can also be grown and used as hedging
Soil	Can grow on almost all soil types with adequate drainage, typically on humus and base-rich soils, but also on dry rendzina and sandy soils with adequate moisture. The yew is intolerant of prolonged frost and cold although its tolerance varies by region and season. They are moderately drought tolerant and can cope with temporary flooding but are susceptible to long term poor drainage
Plant Size	10–20 m (35–65 ft.) (exceptionally up to 28 m or 92 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 2 m (6 ft. 7 in) (exceptionally 4 m or 13 ft. 1 in) in diameter
Root	Root systems are shallow with extensive horizontal roots
Twigs	Light green in color, turning brown after several years; buds green with scales keeled
Bark	Bark is dark, thin, usually red-purple, and scaly coming off in small flakes aligned with the stem
Leaf	Leaves are flat, dark green, 1–4 centimeters (1⁄2–1+1⁄2 in) long and 2–3 mm (3⁄32–1⁄8 in) broad, arranged spirally on the stem, but with the leaf bases twisted to align the leaves in two flat rows
Flowering season	March to April
Flower	Yew is mainly dioecious; although examples of monoecious trees exist this is rare and usually consists of separate sexed branches. Male flowers are small green globules along the underside of last year’s shoots, whilst the female flowers are minute green flowers borne in the leaf axils of the previous year’s growth
Fruit Shape & Size	Ornamentally-attractive, berry-like fruits, each having a single seed 4–7 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long
Fruit Color	Initially green turning to red as they mature
Flesh Color	Red
Seed	Single seed 4–7 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long
Propagation	By cuttings and from seed
Lifespan	400 to 600 years of age
Taste	Very sweet and a bit like a lychee
Plant Parts Used	Berries, leaves
Season	September to November
Culinary Uses	Fruit can be consumed raw, it is very sweet and gelatinous, most people find it delicious though some find it sickly. All other parts of this plant, including the seed, are highly poisonous. Some reports suggest using the bark as a tea substitute, this would probably be very unwise.

Plant Description

Yew Or Common Yew is a long-lived, medium sized, evergreen, conifer tree that normally grows about 10–20 m (35–65 ft.) tall (exceptionally up to 28 m or 92 ft.), with a trunk up to 2 m (6 ft. 7 in) (exceptionally 4 m or 13 ft. 1 in) in diameter. The plant is found growing in hedgerows, woodland, churchyards, parks and shady field edges and can also be grown and used as hedging. The plant can grow on almost all soil types with sufficient drainage, typically on humus and base-rich soils, but also on dry rendzina and sandy soils with adequate moisture. The yew is intolerant of prolonged frost and cold although its tolerance varies by region and season. They are moderately drought tolerant and can cope with temporary flooding but are susceptible to long term poor drainage. Root systems are shallow with extensive horizontal roots. Twigs are light green in color, turning brown after several years. Buds are green with scales keeled. Bark is dark, thin, usually red-purple, and scaly coming off in small flakes aligned with the stem.

Leaves

The leaves are flat, dark green, 1–4 centimeters (1⁄2–1+1⁄2 in) long and 2–3 mm (3⁄32–1⁄8 in) broad, arranged spirally on the stem, but with the leaf bases twisted to align the leaves in two flat rows either side of the stem, except on erect leading shoots where the spiral arrangement is more obvious. Leaves are dark green and shiny above, yellow or pale green below with 8-10 stomatal rows. The leaves are poisonous. Leaves are green all through the year but turn dull in the autumn color.

Leaf arrangement	Alternate
Leaf type	Simple
Leaf margin	Entire
Leaf shape	Linear
Leaf venation	Parallel, none, or difficult to see
Leaf type and persistence	Evergreen, needled evergreen
Leaf blade length	Less than 2 inches
Leaf color	Green
Fall color	No color change
Fall characteristic	Not showy

Flower

Flower of yew is dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers grow on separate trees. Flowers are visible in March and April from the leaf axils of the preceding summer’s twigs.

Male Flowers

They are not true flowers but clusters of stamen. The male flowers appear in February/March and start as Brussels sprout like growths that turn into pale yellow sacs of small spheres before opening to drop its anthers and release lots of pollen.

Female Flowers

The female flower is a single ovule covered in scale like bracts that when pollinated will develop over the summer into a seed surrounded in bright red sometimes yellow flesh.

Flower color	Green, yellow
Flower characteristics	Not showy

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Fruit

Although classified as a conifer, female yews do not produce cones, but instead produce red, ornamentally-attractive, berry-like fruits, each having a single seed 4–7 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long, almost completely surrounded by a fleshy red aril. The aril is 8–15 mm (5⁄16–9⁄16 in) long and wide and opens at the end. The arils mature 6 to 9 months after pollination, and with the seed contained, are eaten by thrushes, waxwings and other birds, which disperse the hard seeds undamaged in their droppings. Maturation of the arils is spread over 2 to 3 months, increasing the chances of successful seed dispersal. The seeds themselves are poisonous and bitter, but are opened and eaten by some bird species including hawfinches, greenfinches and great tits.[14] The aril is not poisonous, it is gelatinous and very sweet tasting. The male cones are globose, 3–6 mm (1⁄8–1⁄4 in) in diameter, and shed their pollen in early spring. All parts of this plant are poisonous if ingested. Taxine, the toxic chemical, is found in the leaves, bark, and hard part of the seed.

Fruit shape	Round
Fruit length	Less than .5 inch
Fruit covering	Fleshy
Fruit color	Red
Fruit characteristics	Attracts birds; showy; fruit/leaves not a litter problem