Taxus brevifolia

Taxus brevifolia, known as the Pacific or western yew, is native along the Pacific coast though it is often considered uncommon. It is a small evergreen conifer growing very slowly up to 33 to 50 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 20 inches. It is shade tolerant but can also grow in the sun. It has thin, scaly bark that can be quite beautiful with red to purplish-brown tones. The leaves are short, lance-shaped, flat and dark green arranged spirally on the stem. Female yews produce a bright red, berry-like gelatinous cup called an aril that is wide and open at the end containing a single, highly poisonous seed. Most parts of the tree are very poisonous to humans and mammals. Birds eat the aril containing the seed which is then dispersed in their droppings. The male cones are small and spherical and shed their pollen in early spring. Used by First Nations people in the making of tools, bows and carvings. Pacific yew can have an irregular, often twisted form, offering beauty and character in the landscape as a specimen. It is a larval host plant for various moth species.

Always revered for its durability, the wood was used by Native Americans for paddles and canoes, it is also used for long lasting fence posts, this uncommon very slow-growing native tree (to 45') of the Pacifica Northwest is also source of taxol, used to treat cancer; its dark-green needles are lightened by their silvery undersides and by the very decorative peeling rose-colored bark. S-PSh/M