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Taxus baccata is a species of evergreen tree in the family Taxaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe and Southern Europe, Northwest Africa, and parts of Southwest Asia and South Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it is sometimes called common yew, European yew, or in North America English yew. It is a woodland tree in its native range, and is also grown as an ornamental tree, hedge or topiary. All parts of the plant except the fleshy aril are poisonous, with toxins that can be absorbed through inhalation, ingestion, and transpiration through the skin.
Yews are often grown in churchyards, where they sometimes reach great age. Many explanations have been given for this planting, especially that the yew is associated with death, immortality, and rebirth. The wood has been prized for making and for musical instruments such as . Multiple place names derive from the Proto-Celtic *eburos, but scholars disagree as to whether this meant the yew tree.
The species Taxus baccata was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum. The name remains accepted, despite the many descriptions by later taxonomists, resulting in 108 synonyms. Linnaeus created the generic name Taxus, perhaps from the Greek toxon, a bow.
The conifer cone are modified, each cone containing a single seed, which is long, and almost surrounded by a fleshy scale which develops into a soft, bright red berry-like aril. The aril is long and wide and open at the end. The arils mature 6 to 9 months after pollination, and are eaten by birds, which disperse the hard seeds undamaged in their droppings.
The seeds themselves are poisonous and bitter, but are opened and eaten by birds such as , greenfinches, and . (2025). 9781408138229, A & C Black. ISBN 9781408138229 The aril is not poisonous; it is gelatinous and very sweet tasting. The male cones are globose, in diameter, and shed their pollen in early spring. Yews are mostly Dioecy with male and female cones on separate trees, but occasional individuals can be variably monoecious, or change sex with time.
The yew's richest central European populations are in Switzerland yew-beech woodlands, on cool, steep marl slopes up to in elevation in the Jura Mountains and Alpine foothills. In England it grows best in steep slopes of the Downland, forming extensive stands invading the grassland outside the beech woods. In more continental climates of Europe it fares better in mixed forests, of both and mixed broadleaf-conifer composition. Under its evergreen shade, no other plants can grow.
The species prefers steep rocky calcareous slopes. It rarely develops beyond saplings on acid soil when under a forest canopy, but is tolerant of soil pH when planted by humans, such as their traditional placement in and Cemetery, where some of the largest and oldest trees in northwestern Europe are found. It grows well in well-drained soils, tolerating nearly any soil type, typically humus and Base-richness soils, but also on rendzina and sand soils given adequate moisture. They can survive temporary flooding and moderate droughts. Roots can penetrate extremely compressed soils, such as on rocky terrain and vertical cliff faces. It normally appears individually or in small groups within the understory, but forms stands throughout its range, such as in sheltered calcareous sites. It is extremely shade-tolerant, with the widest temperature range for photosynthesis among European trees, able to photosynthesize in winter after deciduous trees have shed their leaves. It can grow under partial canopies of beech and other deciduous broad-leafed trees, though it only grows into large trees without such shade.
Yew poisonings are relatively common in both domestic and wild animals which consume the plant accidentally, resulting in "countless fatalities in livestock". Taxines are absorbed efficiently via the skin. Rabbits and deer have a level of immunity to the poisonous alkaloids.
"The lethal dose for an adult is reported to be 50 g of yew needles. Patients who ingest a lethal dose frequently die due to cardiogenic shock, in spite of resuscitation efforts." There are currently no known antidotes for yew poisoning, but drugs such as atropine have been used to treat the symptoms. Taxine remains in the plant all year, with maximal concentrations appearing during the winter. Dried yew plant material retains its toxicity for several months and even increases its toxicity as the water is removed. Fallen leaves should therefore also be considered toxic. Poisoning usually occurs when leaves of yew trees are eaten, but in at least one case a victim inhaled sawdust from a yew tree.
The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, has one of the largest recorded trunk girths in Britain, reportedly in the 18th century, and experts estimate it to be 5,000 years old. The Llangernyw Yew in Clwyd, Wales, at another early saint site, is about 4000–5000 years old according to an investigation led by the botanist David Bellamy, who carbon-dated a yew in Tisbury, Wiltshire at around 4000 years old.
The Ankerwycke Yew is an ancient yew tree close to the ruins of St Mary's Priory, the site of a Benedictine nunnery built in the 12th century, near Wraysbury in Berkshire, England. It is a male tree with a girth of at 0.3 metres. The tree is at least 1,400 years old, and could be as old as 2,500 years.
The Balderschwang Yew, estimated to be 600 to 1,000 years old, may be the oldest tree in Germany. The Caesarsboom, Caesar's Tree in Lo, Belgium, is thought to be over 2000 years old. The Florence Court Yew in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland is the oldest tree of the Irish Yew cultivar. The Borrowdale Yews were described by William Wordsworth in his 1815 poem "Yew Trees", including the lines:
The Bermiego Yew in Asturias, Spain stands tall with a trunk diameter of and a crown diameter of . It was declared a Natural Monument in 1995 by the Asturian Government and is protected by the Plan of Natural Resources. Contains Word document "Monumento Natural Teixu de Bermiego".
The oldest Irish Yew ( Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'), the Florence Court Yew, still stands in the grounds of the Florence Court estate in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The Irish Yew has become ubiquitous in cemeteries across the world, and it is believed that all known examples are from cuttings from this tree.
Asturias, Spain
File:The_Llangernyw_yew.jpg|The Llangernyw Yew,
Conwy, Wales
File:If_Estry.jpg|The Estry Yew,
Normandy, France
File:Ankerwyke-yew.jpg|The Ankerwycke Yew,
Berkshire, England
File:Alte Eibe in Balderschwang, Blick von Nord-Westen.jpg|The Balderschwang Yew,
Bavaria, Germany
Other linguists, such as Andrew Breeze and Peter Schrijver, dispute the etymological connection of *eburos and "yew". Breeze doubts that the Roman name of the city of York, Eburacum, meant "place where yews grow". Schrijver states that while *eburos was certainly the , the only good evidence for its meaning "yew" is the Old Irish ibar, Scottish Gaelic iubhar. In other Celtic languages, it means other plants: Breton evor "Frangula alnus", and Welsh efwr "hogweed"; in Continental Celtic, it may have meant the Sorbus aucuparia tree, as evidenced indirectly by German Eber-esche. Schrijver agrees that names of people, places, and a god make use of *eburos, but writes that the poisonings, as of Catuvolcus, do not prove a connection of the word with the yew, as the plant's toxicity was widely known, not limited to one tribe. He suggests that the Proto-Celtic *eburos probably meant the rowan, remaining as such on the continent, but becoming attached later to other plants in Ireland and Wales. The Welsh yw and Old Irish éo imply Proto-Celtic * iwo for "yew"; Schrijver suggests this was the one and only Proto-Celtic name for the tree.
La Haye-de-Routot, France
File:Farnborough, St Giles the Abbot, yew tree and bench in the churchyard - geograph.org.uk - 3394871.jpg|Yew tree and bench,
St Giles the Abbot,
Farnborough, Hampshire
File:Churchyard yew, Llanveynoe, Herefordshire - geograph.org.uk - 7226774.jpg|Churchyard yew,
Llanveynoe, Herefordshire
St Edwards Church - Stow on th Wold.jpg|Yews framing door of
St Edward's Church,
Stow-on-the-Wold
Multiple explanations for the association with churchyards have been proposed. Some Anglo-Saxon churches may have been built intentionally on "places of assembly, not improbably sites of earlier pagan where ritual and yew magic went hand in hand." Another theory is that yews were planted at religious sites as their long life was suggestive of eternity, or because, being toxic when ingested, they were seen as trees of death. Some yews existed before their churches, as preachers held services beneath them when churches were unavailable. The ability of their branches to root and sprout anew after touching the ground may have caused yews to become symbols of death, rebirth, and therefore immortality. King Edward I of England ordered yew trees to be planted in churchyards to protect the buildings. The tradition of planting yew trees in churchyards throughout Britain and Ireland may have started as a resource for English longbow, such as at "Ardchattan Priory whose yew trees, according to other accounts, were inspected by Robert the Bruce and cut to make at least some of the used at the Battle of Bannockburn." Another explanation is that yews were planted to discourage farmers and drovers from letting animals wander onto the burial grounds, the poisonous foliage being the disincentive. A further possible reason is that fronds and branches of yew were often used as a substitute for palms on Palm Sunday. "The majority of authorities agree that in England; branches of yew were generally employed; and some express the opinion, that the principal object of the tree being planted in churchyards, was to supply branches of it for this purpose."
In the Crann Ogham, a variation on the ancient Irish Ogham alphabet which consists of a list of trees, yew is the last in the main list of 20 trees, primarily symbolizing death. As the ancient Celts also believed in the transmigration of the soul, there is a secondary meaning of the eternal soul that survives death to be reborn in a new form.
One of the world's oldest surviving wooden artifacts is a Clactonian yew spear head, found in 1911 at Clacton-on-Sea, in Essex, UK. Known as the Clacton Spear, it is around 400,000 years old.
In 1507 the Holy Roman Emperor asked the Duke of Bavaria to stop cutting yew, but the trade was profitable, and in 1532 the royal monopoly was granted for the usual quantity "if there are that many." In 1562, the Bavarian government sent a long plea to the Holy Roman Emperor asking him to stop the cutting of yew, and outlining the damage done to the forests by its selective extraction, which broke the canopy and allowed wind to destroy neighbouring trees. In 1568, despite a request from Saxony, no royal monopoly was granted because there was no yew to cut, and the next year Bavaria and Austria similarly failed to produce enough yew to justify a royal monopoly. Forestry records in this area in the 17th century do not mention yew, and it seems that no mature trees were to be had. The English tried to obtain supplies from the Baltic, but at this period bows were being replaced by guns in any case.
In Europe, the species grows naturally north to Molde in southern Norway, but is used in gardens further north. It is popular as a bonsai in many parts of Europe.
Well over 200 yew have been named. The most popular of these are the Irish yew ( T. baccata var 'Fastigiata'), selected from two trees found growing in Ireland, and the several cultivars with yellow leaves, collectively known as "golden yew".
The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
Clippings from ancient specimens in the UK, including the Fortingall Yew, were taken to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh to form a mile-long hedge. The purpose of this "Yew Conservation Hedge Project" is to maintain the DNA of Taxus baccata. A conservation programme was run in Catalonia in the early 2010s by the Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) in order to protect genetically endemic yew populations and preserve them from overgrazing and forest fires. In the framework of this programme, the 4th International Yew Conference was organised in the Poblet Monastery in 2014.
There has been a conservation programme in northern Portugal and Cantabria (Cantabrian Range).
+ Proposed explanations for yews in churchyards Toxic; long-lived; ability to sprout anew; evergreen, with "somber appearance" Association with death/rebirth, as above Decision to adapt remnants of paganism to Christianity Toxic Easier than getting palm tree fronds; association with death/rebirth, as above, fitting for Palm Sunday Use as weapons, keeping the toxic trees away from grazing animals
Place names
Words thought to mean 'yew tree' appear in some place names. Ydre in the South Swedish highlands means "place of yews". Proto-Celtic * is the source of several placenames, but its association with the yew is disputed. If correct, it led to multiple forms: Old Irish ibar; Irish language iobhar, iubhar, and iúr (as in Terenure ()), as well as Scottish Gaelic iubhar.Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, éditions errance 2003, p. 159. Thus, Newry, Northern Ireland is an anglicization of An Iúraigh, an oblique form of An Iúrach, which means "the grove of yew trees". York () is derived from the Common Brittonic name Eburākon (Latinised variously as Eboracum, Eburacum, from the Proto-Celtic.
Alphabets
In the Anglo-Saxon futhark, the thirteenth Runes had a value that was possibly eu, and which was formerly taken to represent Old English eo, eow, iw meaning "yew". The Runic Poem calls it eoh, while the Codex Salisburgensis and Isruna Tracts name it ih.
Uses
Yew wood was historically important, finding use in the Middle Ages in items such as musical instruments, furniture, and longbows. The species was felled nearly to extinction in much of Europe. In the modern day it is not considered a commercial crop due to its very slow growth, but it is valued for hedging and topiary.
Certain compounds in yew clippings are precursors of the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel.National Non-Food Crops Centre, "Yew" . Retrieved on 2009-04-23.
Woodworking
Wood from the yew is a closed-pore softwood, similar to cedrus and pine. Easy to work, it is among the hardest of the softwoods, yet it possesses a remarkable elasticity, making it ideal for products that require springiness, such as bows. The wood is esteemed for cabinetry and tool handles. The hard, slow-growing wood also finds use in gates, furniture, parquet floors, and Panelling. Its typical and contorted growth, with intricate multicolored patterns, make it attractive for carving and woodturning, but also make the wood unsuited for construction. It is good firewood and is sometimes burnt as incense. Due to all parts of the yew and its volatile oils being poisonous and cardiotoxic, a mask should be worn if one comes in contact with sawdust from the wood.
(1980). 9780710004314, Book Club Associates. ISBN 9780710004314 Another spear made from yew is the Lehringen spear found in Germany, dating to around 120,000 years ago, thought to have been created by , and near the skeleton of a straight-tusked elephant which it was likely used to kill.Milks, A. (2020) Yew wood, would you? An exploration of the selection of wood for Pleistocene spears. In: Berihuete-Azorin, M., Martin Seijo, M., Lopez-Bulto, O. and Pique, R. (eds.) The Missing Woodland Resources: Archaeobotanical studies of the use of plant raw materials. Advances in Archaeobotany, 6 (6). Barkhuis Publishing, Groningen, pp. 5-22.
showing
File:Clacton Spear 2018.JPG|The Clacton Spear, the tip of a yew spear 400,000 years old
Longbows
The trade of yew wood to England for longbows was so robust that it depleted the stocks of good-quality, mature yew over a vast area. The first documented import of yew bowstaves to England was in 1294. In 1423 the Polish king commanded protection of yews in order to cut exports, facing nearly complete destruction of local yew stock. In 1470 compulsory archery practice was renewed, and hazel, fraxinus, and laburnum were specifically allowed for practice bows. Supplies still proved insufficient, until by the Statute of Westminster in 1472, every ship coming to an English port had to bring four bowstaves for every tun.
Musical instruments
Yew has for centuries been used in musical instruments. Yew was a prized wood for lute construction from the 16th century, used by the Tieffenbrucker family of in Venice and then by other lute-makers.
Horticulture
Yew is widely used in landscaping and ornamental horticulture. Due to its dense, dark green, mature foliage, and its tolerance of severe pruning, it is used especially for formal and topiary. Its relatively slow growth rate means that in such situations it needs to be clipped only once per year (in late summer). It tolerates a wide range of soils and situations, including shallow chalk soils and shade.Hillier Nurseries, "The Hillier Manual Of Trees And Shrubs", David & Charles, 1998, p863 The species is tolerant of urban pollution, cold, and heat, though soil compaction can harm it. It is slow-growing, taking about 20 years to grow tall, and vertical growth effectively stops after 100 years.
Culinary
The edible arils, often called "yew berries" (or traditionally as "snotty gogs" in parts of England), are eaten by some foragers in western countries, though the seed inside the aril is toxic.
Conservation
Historically, yew populations were gravely threatened by felling for longbows and destruction to protect livestock from poisoning. It is now endangered in parts of its range due to intensive land use. The species is also harvested to meet pharmaceutical demand for . Trees are often damaged by browsing and bark stripping. Yew's thin bark makes it vulnerable to fire. Its toxicity protects against many insects, but the yew mite causes significant bud mortality, and seedlings can be killed by fungi.
See also
Further reading
External links
Categories: Baccata, Flora Of Europe, Flora Of Iran, Flora Of North Africa, Flora Of The Azores, Flora Of The Caucasus, Flora Of Turkey, Garden Plants Of Asia, Garden Plants Of Europe, Medicinal Plants Of Asia, Medicinal Plants Of Europe, Ornamental Trees, Plants Described In 1753, Plants Used In Bonsai, Botanical Taxa Named By Carl Linnaeus, Trees Of Humid Continental Climate, Trees Of Mild Maritime Climate, Trees Of Europe
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