Taxus baccata — Common Yew

A common and very long-lived native tree, typically forming a broad cone of rising branches.

The evergreen needles cluster all around strong and vertical shoots, but form flattened ranks either side of other shoots. They have paired pale yellowish bands on the needle undersides. Pale brownish flowers cover male trees in spring and give rise to the familiar red ‘berries’, open at one end to expose the seed.

There are several variants, including:

  f. aurea (Golden Yew), a less common golden form of the type tree

  ‘Fastigiata’ (Irish Yew), a late 18th-century fastigiate form particularly popular in cemeteries

  ‘Fastigiata Aurea’ (Golden Irish Yew), a common golden male variant of Irish Yew

  ‘Standishii’, a much less common female variant of Golden Irish Yew

For similar trees see: Yew-like leaves

 
 

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Copyright © 2007 Philip Brassett