Also called 🇬🇧 English yew and yew.
Part of
yew family Taxaceae
in
🌲︎ conifer order Pinales.
Native to 🇪🇺 Europe, northern Africa and western Asia.
🗺 Map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48)
(color key).
Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
Gymnosperm database > sections Ethnobotany and Remarks
Its 🪵 wood was used to make ♐︎ archery bows, knife handles and furniture. The former probably explains why it is often found growing in churchyards in 🇬🇧 🇮🇪 Scotland, Ireland and England.
However, when working with this wood,
wear a 😷 mask,
because …
All parts of this plant are ☠︎ poisonous,
even the sawdust. Today, the (yes, toxic) leaves of this plant are used to make the anti-cancer drug Taxol.
Ötzi the Iceman carried a ♐︎ longbow and 🪓 axe-handle made of the 🪵 wood of this plant
🇪🇺 European yew Taxus baccata.
[1]
For more about Ötzi:
Robert the Bruce is said to have planted many yews to replace those he harvested to make ♐︎ longbows prior to the battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
🌲︎ Conifer order Pinales
have 'naked' seeds — thus called
gymnosperm
— by:
- not enclosing its seeds with any ovary structure, and
- packaging their seeds in cones (a different type of female reproductive structure, apparently).
However, although
yew family Taxaceae
and
juniper genus Juniperus
are grouped with the 🌲︎ conifers above, these two subgroups violate both these rules, with seed cones that are fleshy and berry-like.
References
[1]
"Ötzi the Iceman" page "Equipment" sections "Longbow, arrows and quiver" and "Copper axe." South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. .
Accessed .