Yew - Taxus baccata

Tree or bush to 20 metres, bark reddish brown and flaking, leaves shiny dark green narrow and pointed, in two rows. Flowers green, males with many yellow stamens, the female solitary or two together. Fruit enveloped in a fleshy aril, red.

Several cultivars are commonly planted, especially in churchyards.  The Irish Yew has a dense upright (fastigiate) form with dark-green leaves, and is very common.  Other cultivars may have yellowish or golden-tinged foliage, or much shorter leaves, or pendulous shoots.  

Various locations, usually only individual plants.

all year

Evergreen.

Fairly frequent throughout Britain.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 138 of the 617 tetrads.