![]() In the wild, deer browsing of yews is often so extensive that wild yew trees are commonly restricted to cliffs and other steep slopes inaccessible to deer. Grazing animals, particularly cattle and horses, are also sometimes found dead near yew trees after eating the leaves, though deer are able to break down the poisons and will eat yew foliage freely. This can have fatal results if yew ‘berries’ are eaten without removing the seeds first. The arils are edible and sweet, but the seed is dangerously poisonous unlike birds, the human stomach can break down the seed coat and release the taxanes into the body. All parts of the tree except the arils contain the alkaloid. ![]() The Florida yew, Mexican yew and Pacific yew are all rare species listed as threatened or endangered.Īll species of yew contain highly poisonous alkaloids known as taxanes, with some variation in the exact formula of the alkaloid between the species. ![]() globosa, native to eastern Mexico south to Honduras) is also relatively distinct with foliage intermediate between Sumatran yew and the other species. sumatrana, native to Sumatra and Celebes north to southernmost China), distinguished by its sparse, sickle-shaped yellow-green leaves. The most distinct is the Sumatran yew (T. They have reddish bark, lanceolate, flat, dark-green leaves 1–4 cm long and 2–3 mm 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.Īll of the yews are very closely related to each other, and some botanists treat them all as subspecies or varieties of just one widespread species under this treatment, the species name used is Taxus baccata, the first yew described scientifically. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1–40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m. Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. ![]()
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