Japanese yew is a familiar evergreen in yards and hedges in the eastern US. Female plants grow bright red, cup-shaped coverings around their seeds in fall. The seeds and needles are highly poisonous.
Appearance
Appearance
Japanese yew is an evergreen shrub or small tree. In gardens it usually reaches 10–25 ft (3–7.5 m) tall and 5–10 ft (1.5–3 m) wide; in the wild it can grow taller.
Leaves
Flat, dark green needles about 0.4–1.2 in (1–3 cm) long, with yellowish undersides, set in two rows along the twigs. They may turn reddish brown in winter.
Fruit
Female plants bear a single seed wrapped in a soft, bright red about 0.3–0.5 in (8–12 mm) across. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants.
The needle tip tapers abruptly on Japanese yew but more gradually on European yew. A close, clear photo of the needles helps.
Why they get mixed up · Both are planted yews with red seed coverings.
Where it lives
Typical habitats
yards and gardens
hedges
forest edges
roadsides
Range
Native to Japan, Korea, northeast China, and the far southeast of Russia. It was brought to the US in 1833 and is widely planted in the East. It has escaped and in parts of New England, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
Preferred conditions
Grows in full sun to partial shade in well-drained, sandy or loamy, neutral to acidic soil. It handles city conditions and some drought. Escaped plants turn up at forest edges, in thickets, along roadsides, and near homes.
Life cycle
Seed dispersal
Birds eat the red arils and spread the seeds.
Growing it
Care
Hardy in 4a–7b. It takes pruning very well, so it is often sheared into hedges, screens, and shaped shrubs.
Toxicity
The bark, needles, and seeds contain taxine, a poison that can be fatal to people and pets. The red flesh around the seed is not poisonous, but the seed inside is dangerous.
Many yews sold for hedges in the U.S. are hybrids of Japanese yew and European yew (Taxus baccata), called Taxus × media. A low-growing variety of Japanese yew is called Taxus cuspidata var. nana.
Varieties and forms
Nurseries offer upright, rounded, and spreading cultivated forms of Japanese yew.
Conservation
IUCN Red List
LCLeast Concern·Low risk of extinction
Culture and stories
Culture and stories
Its species name, cuspidata, comes from Latin for sharply pointed, a nod to the needle tips.