The Urban Pantheist

Urban species #358: Yew Taxus spp.

Yew should be familiar to anyone who grew up in the suburbs or the city. Sometimes cut into gumdrop shapes, sometimes planed into rectilinear hedges, and rarely left in its natural shrub shape, yews grace the front yards of homes and businesses around the world. An evergreen conifer that may, in wild conditions, grow to 50 feet, is exceedingly common as a four to ten foot geometric shape--a small lump of cultivated bush to accent a yard or conceal the front of a building. There are species of yew native to Europe, North America, and Asia--in Boston we see Japanese yew, Taxus cuspidatta, or occasionally European yew, T. baccata, or even a hybrid of the two Taxus x media. What we seldom see is the native yew T. canadensis, a threatened species in several southern states.

Yew bushes are used as shelter by many urban birds. Growing up in the suburbs between Springfield and Hartford, I remember American robins nesting in the yews in front of my house. Robins and other birds feed on the red, fleshy cones of female yew shrubs. Human children may enjoy squeezing these cones to release the sticky juice, and then often throw them at friends and siblings. They are not good for most mammals to eat, including humans. The foliage of yew trees is even worse, and one veterinary source underscores the danger this way: "First aid is usually impractical, since the animals die so quickly." Captive animals in enclosures with yew trees, bored enough to browse something poisonous, are the usual victims. Wild deer and other herbivores may nibble on yew, but will not generally eat enough to hurt themselves. Deer and rabbit resistance is one of the reasons for the popularity of yew plantings.