Taxus - Uses and Traditions

Uses and Traditions

Yew wood is reddish brown (with whiter sapwood), and is very springy. It was traditionally used to make bows, especially the longbow. Ötzi, the Chalcolithic mummy found in 1991 in the Italian alps, carried an unfinished longbow made of yew wood. Consequently, it is not surprising that, in Norse mythology, the god of the bow, Ullr's abode had the name Ydalir (Yew dales). Most longbow wood used in northern Europe was imported from Iberia, where climatic conditions are better for growing the knot-free yew wood required. The yew longbow was the critical weapon used by the English in the defeat of the French cavalry at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415. It is suggested that English parishes were required to grow yews and, because of the trees' toxic properties, they were grown in the only commonly enclosed area of a village - the churchyard. The yew tree can often be found in church graveyards and is symbolic of sadness. Such a representation appears in Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem "In Memoriam A.H.H." (2.61-64).

The Eihwaz rune ᛇ is named after the yew, and sometimes also associated with the "evergreen" World tree, Yggdrasil.

Yews are widely used in landscaping and ornamental horticulture. Over 400 cultivars of yews have been named, the vast majority of these being derived from Taxus baccata (European Yew) or Taxus cuspidata (Japanese Yew). The hybrid between these two species is (Taxus x media). A popular fastigiate selection of the European Yew (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata') is often called the Irish Yew, which often complements the fact of the difficulties with common names. A few cultivars with yellow leaves that are being propagated, collectively are known as golden yews, which is another nomenclature blunder.

The Pacific Yew Taxus brevifolia, native to the Pacific Northwest of North America, and Canada Yew Taxus canadensis are the sources of paclitaxel or Taxol, a chemotherapeutic drug used in breast and lung cancer treatment and, more recently, in the production of the Taxus drug eluting stent by Boston Scientific. Over-harvesting of the Pacific Yew for this drug has resulted in it becoming an endangered species, though the drug is now produced semi-synthetically from cultivated yews, without the need to further endanger the wild populations. The more common Canada yew, Taxus canadensis, is also being successfully harvested in northern Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick, and has become another major source of paclitaxel. Other yew species contain similar compounds with similar biochemical activity. Docetaxel, an analogue of paclitaxel, is derived from the Taxus baccata.

The yew tree is a frequent symbol in the Christian poetry of T. S. Eliot, especially his Four Quartets.

On January 18, 2008, the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (representing botanic gardens in 120 countries) stated that "400 medicinal plants are at risk of extinction, from over-collection and deforestation, threatening the discovery of future cures for disease." These included Yew trees (the bark is used for cancer drugs, paclitaxel).