Taxus – Latin name for yews
Leaves:
- alternate
- linear and flat
- decurrent (leaf base extends down the stem)
- ~0.1” wide
- dark green on the upper surface and 2 broad pale yellowish bands on the lower surface
- 2-ranked
Cones:
- dioecious
- wind pollinated
- male cones:
- small
- globular and yellow
- solitary in leaf axil
- female cones:
- small
- green
- near shoot tips
- single seed w/ fleshy red aril
Other notes:
- trees to 85 ft.
- evergreen
- twigs stay green for two or more years
- bark reddish to reddish brown, often scaly
- wide-spreading branches
- Taxus baccata (English yew) most common in horticulture
- Taxus brevifolia (Pacific yew) is native in PNW