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Vascular Flora of the Southeastern United States
Hardin, Massey, Radford, Thieret, eds.

Copyright - James W. Hardin, Ph. D., 1998, 1999. All Rights Reserved.

3.TAXUS L. YEW


Small trees or shrubs; branches alternate. Leaves distinctly alternate, dark green above, 1-2.5 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, flexible, the tips pointed but not sharp and piercing, faintly and pleasantly aromatic when crushed. Seeds ovoid, enclosed to near apex by a red, fleshy, cuplike aril, entire structure 1 cm or less in diam., maturing in fall. The poisonous alkaloid taxine is present in the bark, leaves, and seeds; the aril is edible. Two species very similar morphologically but allopatric in distribution.