A small to medium-sized native evergreen tree with dark green, needle-like leaves. Commonly found in churchyards and often used in ornamental horticulture. Yew has bright red berries, instead of cones, which grow on female trees and stand out in winter.

Behaviour

Yew grows in a wide range of conditions. It is extremely tolerant of temperature, humidity and extremes of acid or alkaline soil. The bark is thin, scaly brown, and comes off in flakes aligned with the stem. It is slow-growing, but very long lived. There are around ten yew trees in Britain which are believed to predate the 10th century. 

It is mostly dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers grow on separate trees. Male flowers are very small white-yellow globe-like structures while female flowers are bud-like and scaly. The seed of the yew is enclosed in a red, berry-like structure known as an aril.

Size

• Height: up to 25m.

• Age: yew trees can reach an age of 2,000 years. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, has the largest recorded trunk girth in Britain; experts estimate it to be 5,000 years old. 

Status

Reasonably common in the UK.

Distribution

Yew is one of the three conifers native to Britain (the others are Scots pine and juniper). It is reasonably common throughout England, Wales and southern Scotland, but is rare in the Highlands and Northern Scotland.

When to see

All year round. Flowers are visible in March and April and the red berry-like fruit is visible in the autumn and winter.

Facts

• Yew wood was traditionally used in to make longbows and tool handles. The oldest surviving yew longbow was found at Rotten Bottom in Dumfries and Galloway. It has been dated to between 4040 BC to 3640 BC and is on display in the National Museum of Scotland.

• In folklore, the yew tree is symbolic of everlasting life and rebirth. It was held sacred by druids in pre-Christian times. Norse and Celt peoples believed yew trees protected against bewitchment and death.

• Yew seeds, in the centre of the red berry-like arils, are poisonous to most mammals due to high levels of cyanide. However, the fruit’s bright red colour attracts a variety of birds which eat the outer layers of the aril. Badgers are one of the only mammal species that can eat the fruit without being poisoned.

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