European Yew, or Common Yew, has long associations with people and deep cultural links to religion, death, warfare and formal landscapes. Nearly all parts are highly poisonous except the sweet flesh of its berry-like aril, but even this should never be eaten, given the risk of swallowing the deadly seed within.

Native to much of Europe, absent only from extremely cold and montane areas such as Iceland, most of Hungary and Russia, and the Alps and Carpathians. Small native populations occur in Turkey and North Africa. It is widely cultivated and naturalised in many more countries.

Very long-lived, surviving 2,000 years or more. Dioecious, though sometimes subdioecious, with single branches bearing the opposite sex’s flowers. Wind-pollinated. Seeds grow singly within an aril, a modified cone of two fused scales whose red flesh envelops the seed; birds eat most arils and disperse the seeds in droppings, unharmed by the poison. Its toxic alkaloid is Taxine B.

Moderately tall (25m), but the pyramidal crown is often equally wide. Trunk very broad, multi-stemmed, deeply fluted, often with epicormic shoots. Bark thin, scaly, brown with red and purple hints. Needles dark glossy green above, pale-banded below, 15-40mm, spirally arranged but appearing in two ranks. Male cones globose, 3-6mm, yellow-white, shedding clouds of pollen in early spring. Female cones fleshy red arils with a dark seed. Coast Redwood differs: tall and columnar with thick bark.

Easy to establish, except in waterlogged soils and frost hollows. Can be repeatedly pruned and trimmed. shade-tolerant. Keep livestock away from feeding on all parts of the tree.

Yew can dominate a woodland, casting a heavy shade that deters other plants, but it creates a rare and valuable habitat, especially on chalk and limestone soils. Provides year-round shelter for wildlife. Many birds, especially thrushes, feed on its arils.

Generally a species free of pests and pathogens.

Its foliage originally yielded the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (‘Taxol’), now made synthetically. The prized timber, technically a softwood but harder and heavier than many hardwoods, has beautiful colour and figure and is strong and flexible. Too slow-growing for commercial forestry, it can diversify a forest as an understorey. It was the wood of the medieval longbow, using compression-resistant heartwood and tension-resistant sapwood. Often grown in churchyards, it suits hedges and topiary; the best-known cultivar is Irish Yew ‘Fastigiata’.