Taxus brevifolia Nutt.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Taxus brevifolia' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/taxus/taxus-brevifolia/). Accessed 2024-04-18.

Genus

Taxus

Common Names

Pacific Yew

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

apex: (pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
linear: Strap-shaped.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Taxus brevifolia' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/taxus/taxus-brevifolia/). Accessed 2024-04-18.

The leaves of Taxus brevifolia are usually slightly falcate (Leach Botanical Garden, Portland, OR; 19th June 2022). Image Julian Sutton.

A small tree 20 to 30, rarely 50 to 70 ft high, the trunk clothed with thin reddish brown bark; branchlets slender, winter buds clothed with loose yellowish, pointed scales. Leaves 1⁄4 to 2⁄3 in. long, 1⁄16 in. wide, linear, rather abruptly narrowed at the apex to a fine point; dark green above, paler green beneath, arranged in two opposite horizontally spreading rows and persisting four or five years. Fruit as in T. baccata.

Native of western N. America from S. Alaska to California, nowhere frequent; introduced in 1854. This yew is rare in cultivation, the form so-called being usually a form of T. baccata. On the other hand, the yews differ so little from each other in essential points that it may easily be lost among the numerous forms of common yew.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

A specimen in the National Pinetum, Bedgebury, Kent, measures 13 × 31⁄4 ft (1985).

Arils and seed of Taxus brevifolia. Oregon. October 2007. Image Dan Luscombe.

Taxus brevifolia typically forms a small understorey tree (Josephine Co., OR; 5th June 2022). Image Julian Sutton.

The purple to red inner layers of Taxus brevifolia bark at their most spectacular. Oregon, October 2007. Image Dan Luscombe.

Outer bark scales of Taxus brevifolia are a less impressive purplish brown, giving a quite different look when many are present (Leach Botanical Garden, Portland, OR; 19th June 2022). Image Julian Sutton.

Taxus brevifolia in southern Oregon, March 2010. Image John Grimshaw.

Leaf undersides on Taxus brevifolia with malformed pollen cones toward the branch tips. Calaveras Big Trees State Park (North Grove), California. 22 May 2023. Image Tom Christian.

Taxus brevifolia reaches its southern limit in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, in California's Sierra Nevada, where it occurs in Sequoiadendron forest with Abies concolor, Calocedrus decurrens, Pinus lambertiana and P. ponderosa. 22 May 2023. Image Tom Christian.

Taxus brevifolia foliage. Calaveras Big Trees State Park (North Grove), California. 22 May 2023. 22 May 2023. Image Tom Christian.

Bark on Taxus brevifolia in Calaveras Big Trees State Park (North Grove), California. 22 May 2023. Image Tom Christian.

These pollen cones on Taxus brevifolia shed their pollen several weeks before they were photographed in Calaveras Big Trees State Park (North Grove), California. 22 May 2023. Image Tom Christian.

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