Yews

FAMILY TAXACEAE

Genus TAXUS, Linn.

Evergreen trees and shrubs, with spreading, horizontal branches, and purple, scaly bark. Leaves linear, spiny, 2-ranked, pale beneath. Flowers minute, dioecious, in axillary heads. Fruit berry-like, fleshy, sweet, scarlet.

There are six known species of yew, all confined to the Northern Hemisphere. The fruit is farther away from the coniferous type than that of any true member of the Family Coniferae. Yet careful analysis of flowers and fruit show that the parts are there-the scales and the naked ovules-though development obliterates the signs of relationship to the pines and hemlocks.

Eastern Yew Tree
Florida Yew Tree
Old World Yew Tree
Pacific Yew Tree