Pacific Yew
Taxus brevifolia
A slow, shade-loving understory conifer with flat needles, peeling purple bark, and red berry-like arils for birds. The original source of the cancer drug taxol, though its foliage and seeds are toxic.
- Family
- Taxaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 40–40 ft
- Spacing
- 10–20 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- June, July
- Bloom colors
- yellow
- Wildlife value
- songbirds
- Landscape uses
- hedge or screen, naturalizing
- Native states
- AK, CA, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA