Trees · Taxaceae

Yew

Taxus baccata

Spanish TejoCatalan TeixNative8–20 mEvergreen

Tree of the yew — Tree · Photo: Peter Mackenzie, CC BY-SA 2.0

A dark mountain tree with soft, flat needles and red fruits like little cups.

LeafNeedles
NeedlesOne by one
In winterYes, always green
BarkFlaking in plates
FruitFleshy

The leaf

Flat, soft needles, 1 to 3 cm, a very dark glossy green above and paler beneath, with no white stripes. They are arranged on both sides of the twig.

The bark

Thin and reddish brown, flaking off in scales and plates that leave redder patches. Old trunks are fluted and often hollow.

The fruit

The seed sits in a bright red fleshy cup, the aril, open at the top. Only female trees bear them.

The flower

There are male and female trees. The male flowers are little yellow balls under the twigs; the female ones are tiny and green.

Habit

A tree 8 to 20 m tall, very slow-growing, with a thick trunk and a dense, dark, rounded crown.

Where it grows

In Catalonia it grows scattered in ravines and on cool mountain slopes, often beneath beech, fir or oak: the Pyrenees, Pre-Pyrenees, Montseny and the Ports. It is also planted in gardens and clipped into hedges.

What it can be mistaken for

The silver fir also has flat needles in two rows, but with two white stripes beneath, and it bears cones. The prickly juniper has sharp needles in threes. Soft needles without stripes and a red fruit belong to the yew.

A story

Every part of the yew is highly poisonous, branches, leaves and seed, except the red flesh of the aril. Its springy wood was used to make bows, and substances extracted from its leaves are used to make cancer drugs.

Find out more

Photos from Wikimedia Commons:

Tree: Peter Mackenzie, CC BY-SA 2.0
Leaf: C.Giordano/EUFORGEN, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bark: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, CC BY-SA 4.0
Fruit: Carsten Niehaus, Public domain