Yew (botanical)

See also: Yew

the yew ( Taxus ) is a kind of Conifères of the family of the Taxacées which includes/understands ten species:

Taxus baccata L. - the common Yew
Taxus brevifolia Nutt. - the Yew of the West
Taxus canadensis Marsh. - the Yew of Canada
Taxus chinensis - the Yew of China
Taxus cuspidata Sieb. and Zucc. - the Yew of Japan
Taxus floridana Nutt. ex Chapman
Taxus globosa
Taxus sumatrana - the Yew of Indonesia
Taxus wallichiana - the Yew of the Himalayas

The yew is a small conifer or shrub whose growth is relatively slow. It can have one very long lifespan. Measuring 5 to 8 m and being able to reach 20 m in height. The drawn up trunk is covered with a red bark, the sheets in the shape of needles punts are of a dark green with which section red arilles.

The common yew ( Taxus baccata ) is often used in the parks and gardens like a small ornamental tree. One easily cuts it thanks to his great facility of budding.

All the plant is toxic except the Arille which surrounds the ovule. The toxic substance is a complex mixture of Alcaloïde S: the Taxine.

Its wood is favourable with the construction of the arc S.

The yew is rare in a natural state: it almost disappeared from wood and the meadows because of the many intoxications which it caused in the cattle.

The yew is a funerary tree. Planted in the cemeteries and soup by the horses of the hearses, it could cause their death in a few minutes: the amount mortal for a horse is estimated at 0,5 - 2 g/kg of body weight.

The bark of Taxus brevifolia was used for its properties anti-cancer. One however needed 12.000 yews to produce 2 kg of Taxol. However it is a tree whose growth is very slow. One then managed to extract the taxotere, a substance close to the taxol, needles of Taxus baccata . Today the molecule is entirely synthesized.

Symbolic system

The Yew is the symbol of life and death. Old the Celtes venerated it as a symbol of immortality because of its longevity which can exceed 2.000 years. It was also associated with death; besides one finds it often in the cemeteries.

Medical virtues

Although the Branches, needles and seeds contain a highly toxic Alcaloïde, the pulp of bays is edible.

One finds in the starts-up of the taxanes (toxic molecules) which contain anti-cancer substances. This molecule is one of the florets of the fight anticancer, very effective against breast cancers, of the ovary, the lung. Only disadvantage: its scarcity. 10 kg of bark of Yew of the Pacific give hardly 1 gram of active product.

References

Magazine Research, number 411, September 2007, article: Draft of the plants, page 50

Internal bond

the oldest yew of France, with the Moor-Patry in Normandy.

External bonds

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