Yew (Taxus): how to identify it

Yew is reported toxic: what the sources say

The Woodland Trust says the seed inside the red aril is poisonous to humans, and so are the bark and leaves; it describes the red fleshy part itself as not toxic and the tree as extremely poisonous to livestock. NC State Extension lists the bark, leaves, seeds and stems as toxic parts, rates English yew as a high-severity poison and reports it highly poisonous to humans, children, dogs, cats and horses. Its page for the hybrid Taxus × media gives the same rating.

That is why this page gives no tips on handling or tasting any part of a yew. If a child or a pet has chewed one, call a poison control center or a veterinarian, and take a sprig with you. Tree Identifier's Toxicology notes are AI-written and are not a safety verdict.

The yews of North America and Britain

Pacific yew. The USDA Forest Service's Silvics of North America describes a shade-tolerant tree that usually grows in the understory of undisturbed forests, from the southern tip of southeast Alaska to Calaveras County in California. It rarely exceeds 24 inches (60 cm) in diameter and 49 feet (15 m) in height. Its needles are dark green on the underside and two-ranked; the bark is purplish, papery thin and scalelike, rose red where freshly exposed; the seed is about 0.3 inch (8 mm) long, partly enveloped by a scarlet cup. The same publication notes that taxol, a compound used in cancer research, was first found in its bark.

Canada yew. Natural Resources Canada's Trees of Canada describes a straggling, multistemmed shrub with no trunk, about 2 m tall, whose stems trail in the forest humus with upturned tips. It is shade-tolerant, grows in colonies in eastern Canada and is also called ground-hemlock (if du Canada in French). If you find a knee-high yew carpeting a shady northern forest floor, this is it.

Japanese and hybrid yews. Most yews in US foundation plantings are Japanese yew or the hybrid between English and Japanese yew. The NC State profile of Japanese yew gives needles under 1 inch, dark green above and yellow-tinged beneath, and a native range of Japan, Korea, China and Russia; it is very cold hardy, listed for USDA zones 4a to 7b. The hybrid (Taxus × media) comes in shrubby, columnar and spreading forms used as foundation plants, hedges, topiary and screens, with red fleshy cones on female plants (NC State).

Irish yew. The tall, narrow, almost black-green columns in British and Irish churchyards and in older American gardens are Irish yews. The BSBI's Fermanagh Flora traces them to plants found by a farmer, George Willis, on Cuilcagh mountain above Florence Court in County Fermanagh, some time before 1767 and perhaps as early as 1740. One plant went to his landlord at Florence Court and survives as the mother tree. It is female and easily propagated from cuttings, so Irish yews are female too.

Ancient yews and British churchyards

In Britain the yew is above all a churchyard tree, and a very old one. The Woodland Trust calls it probably the most long-lived tree in northern Europe, says a yew isn't considered ancient until it reaches 900 years, and reports that ten yew trees in Britain are believed to predate the 10th century. It also counts at least 500 churchyards in England that contain yews older than the church buildings themselves.

Treat every age you read on a churchyard sign as an estimate: even the Woodland Trust says those ten trees are believed, not known, to be that old, and no one has counted their rings. The identification is easier than the dating: an ancient yew still has flat needles in two rows, green underneath, and red cups on female trees each fall.

In the wild, the Woodland Trust says, yew is common in southern England and often forms the understory of beech woodland. Blackbirds, mistle thrushes, song thrushes and fieldfares eat the red arils, and dense yew hedges give birds cover and nest sites. For the other trees to learn first in Britain, see tree identification in the UK.

How to tell a yew from hemlock, fir, plum yew and juniper

Hemlock. The most common mix-up in North America, because eastern hemlock also has flat, short needles in two rows. Hemlock needles are about 1/2 inch with two white lines beneath, and the twig carries tiny extra needles along its top; its cones are small, brown and hanging. Canada yew's other name, ground-hemlock, shows how old this confusion is.

Fir. Fir needles are flat too, but silvery or whitish beneath, and firs carry woody cones that stand upright on the top branches. The spruce vs fir page explains how to recognize a fir first.

Plum yew. Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia) is a planted look-alike, and NC State says it tolerates summer heat and humidity unlike other yews. Its needles, 0.5 to 1.2 inches, have two whitish bands beneath, and its fruit looks like a small olive or plum up to 1 inch long, with the fleshy layer nearly surrounding the seed.

Juniper. Junipers have scale leaves or prickly needles, never soft flat needles in two rows, and their fruit is a hard, berry-like blue cone. If the red fruit is the clue that brought you here, the tree with red berries guide covers holly, hawthorn, dogwood and the other red-fruited trees.

In winter, yew is one of the easiest conifers to spot in a leafless hedge or woodland because it stays so dark. To keep track of a churchyard yew or a fruiting hedge you want to revisit, Tree Identifier's Tree Map pins each located identification so you can find it again.