The New Student's Reference Work/Yew

Yew, the common name of species of Taxus, a genus of conifers, distributed throughout the northern temperate regions. The most noticeable peculiarity of the genus is the development of a fleshy (usually scarlet) cup ("aril") about the naked seed, making the fruit look like an open berry. The common yew of Europe (T. baccata), very often cultivated, especially in cemeteries, is a tree of somber aspect. Veneration and superstition have long clung about it. It lives to a great age in the Old World. The American (T. Canadensis) is a more or less prostrate form, which is especially abundant northward; a stunted shrub with very tough wood.