How do you recognise English yew (Taxus baccata)?

Leaf

Liliane Roubaudi, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0

English yew

Taxus baccata L.

Also known as: Common yew, Yew, European yew

Family: Taxaceae

10 to 15 m tall, sometimes more

Woodland understorey, often planted as a clipped hedge or in churchyards

Flowering: February – April

Part shade

Shade

Full sun

-25°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

All parts are toxic except the red flesh of the aril — never eat the black seed inside. From a distance, both are dark conifers with needles. Yew has flat, soft needles in two neat rows, no cones (but toxic red berries), whereas Norway spruce has sharp needles all around the twig and true hanging cones.

🍃 Leaves

Flat, soft needles, glossy dark green, arranged in two rows like a comb

🌸 Flowers

Tiny, inconspicuous, sexes separate, on different plants

🍎 Fruits

Small black seed surrounded by a fleshy red aril

🪵 Bark

Reddish-brown, thin, flaking in scales

🗺️ Distribution

Europe, North Africa, western Asia; found in France in limestone woodland, widely planted as an ornamental

🐝 Value for pollinators

Wind-pollinated, of little interest to pollinators

✂️ Horticultural uses

Widely used for clipped hedges and topiary thanks to its tolerance of pruning, planted for centuries in formal gardens

⚠️ Possible toxicity

Extremely toxic: needles and seeds contain cardiotoxic taxines, fatal if ingested by humans and many animals; only the fleshy red aril is edible (not the seed)

🌱 Known cultivars

Fastigiata (Irish yew)

Very narrow, upright habit forming an almost vertical column, the origin of all the pyramidal yews planted as topiary in gardens and churchyards.

Fastigiata Aurea (golden Irish yew)

Same strict columnar habit as the classic Irish yew, but with golden new growth that brightens the usual dark silhouette of yews.

⚠️ Look-alike species

English yew

Taxus baccata

Norway spruce

Picea abies

From a distance, both are dark conifers with needles. Yew has flat, soft needles in two neat rows, no cones (but toxic red berries), whereas Norway spruce has sharp needles all around the twig and true hanging cones.

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.