Only the red part is edible, not the seed inside.
The Yew can kill you, very quickly.
Did that get your attention? Good. It should. There is only one safe, small part of the tree that is edible. The rest is toxic. What’s edible? The fleshy aril around the seed. The seeds are NOT edible though those who have eaten them have said before they died that the seeds had a good flavor. The same has been said of deadly mushrooms and fatal water hemlock. What do chewed seeds do? They stop your heart. Any questions? The leaves are toxic as well killing, besides humans, horses, cattle and pigs. Taxine alkaloids (A and B) are thought to inhibit heart depolarization. The largest concentration is in the seeds.
Yew Bow
While the aril has a firm texture it falls apart once removed from the seed, is watery and sweet but with almost no flavor. Get your fingers messy: Don’t even think about putting it all in your mouth then spitting the seed out. That’s too dangerous. Take the aril, which looks like a little cup, off the seed, throw the seed away, then eat the aril. I would not be surprised to learn the arils has antioxidants. While the aril is edible the flavor and texture are not WOW. They’re okay… barely. It’s a lot of danger to approach for little pay off.
Now, what if you swallow one seed whole? Those who know say it will probably pass through without a problem. Personally, I would rather throw up than take the chance, or have the stomach pumped out. Chewed seeds or a few ounces of leaves will definitely kill you, or a horse. How toxic is the tree? It is favored by bow makers, and has been since ancient times. However there are reports of some bow makers being killed by the tree’s toxins because they handle the wood so much. Oh… did I mention the yew is a common landscaping ornamental? Surrounding ones house with a deadly hedge is not a good idea.
Poisoning symptoms can include difficulty walking, muscle tremors, convulsions, collapsing, difficult breathing, coldness and heart failure. However the toxin works so quickly some of those symptoms might be skipped. Dead animals are often found with twigs or leaves still in their mouth.
A yew near Ledbury, Herfordshire, England
That said the Yew tree has a lot of history behind it. The word itself is ancient Germanic and means brown, like the bark. The oldest piece of worked wood in the world is a Yew spearhead dated 450,000 years old. Within written times the European Yew was dedicated to the Erinyes or Furies, goddesses of vengeance for human punishment. Caesar referenced a Celtic leader named Eburones who poisoned himself with Yew rather than submit to Rome. The Roman historian Florus said that in 22 BC the Cantabrians on the coast of northern Spain killed themselves by sword, fire or Yew rather than surrender to the legate Gaius Furnius. The Astures, also of Spain, when under siege at Mons Medullius also chose to die by Yew than be captured. Yews are among the oldest trees in Britain with several over 1,000 years old and one perhaps 4,000 years old.
Cornucopia II lists two Yews. Of the Taxus baccata (the English Yew) it says on page 240 “the bark is used as a substitute for tea. Fruits are sometimes eaten, however the seeds are considered poisonous.” And of the Taxus cuspidata (the Japanese Yew) it says: “the sweet aril, or fruit pulp, is eaten raw, made into jam, or brewed into wine. Caution is recommended, as the seeds of many species are poisonous.”
All that said Ethnobotanist Dr. Daniel Austin reports the native species were used by Indians for medicine. Eastern tribes used the Taxus canadensis in minute amounts for tea to treat rheumatism, bowel ailments, fevers, colds, scurvy, to rid clots, as a diuretic and to expel afterbirth. However, Dr. James Duke in 2002 wrote T. baccata, T. brevifolia and T. canadensis are too toxic to be used as medicine.
Badger, Taxidea taxus
The study of plants is also the study of language and history. The yew genus is Taxus. That comes from either taxic or toxic which in Greek means “that in which arrows are dipped.” Interestingly the Greek word for bow is toxon and for the Yew taxos. One can see and hear the connection of these words for over 4,000 years. By the way the animal called the Badger is Taxidea taxus, which means” the badger hides in the yew forest.” I think it is one of a few or the only case in which a plant and an animal have similar scientific names. And while the little fellow to the left looks cute Badgers are renowed for their ill-temper and brass.
Most Yews used in landscaping are either the European Yew or the Japanese Yew. There are three native Yews to North America, T. brevifolia, T, canadensis, and T. floridana.
Green Deane’s Itemized Plant Profile: Yew
IDENTIFICATION: An evergreen, bark reddish-brown, thin, flaking in thin scales; leaves linear, stiff, one-half to one inch long, two ranked, on twigs; upper surface dark green, lower surface yellow-green, midrib prominent. Fruit comprised of a single stony seed mostly surrounded by a bright scarlet, thick, ovoid, fleshy cup, the whole .5 to .75 inches long.
T. baccata, the European yew, hardy north to New York, T. cuspidta hardy into southern Canada, T. brevifolia, the western yew, to 75 feet high, forests, wooded slops and ravines, central California to Montana, British Columbia and Alaska. T. canadensis, ground hemlock, likes marshes, spreading shrub rarely more than 5 feet high, deep woods, Kentucky north to Canada. Taxus floridana is so rare we’ll leave them alone. Yews are mostly found in yards as an ornamental.
TIME OF YEAR: Summer to fall
ENVIRONMENT: Varies by species
METHOD OF PREPARATION: Aril raw. The seeds are deadly. Read that sentence again: The seeds are deadly. Indeed, the entire plant is deadly except for the aril.
Wonderful post and although I was aware that the Taxus genus were poisonous before…I am not even going to bother with the fruit now because why would you bother for something “sweet and watery” unless it gave you an extra 10 years of life! Very interesting information. I love that Taxus are so easy to grow from cuttings and that they keep on keeping on (mainly because the possums, wallabies, rabbits etc. are obviously a whole lot less stupid than people who eat yews!). I haven’t actually explored the annals of this blog so far and just seeing “White Indigo Berry Has a Dark Side” and “Wild Coffee But Not Kentucky” has me most interested as a horticulturalist AND as someone interested in wild food. Thank you for this most interesting and informative post. Taxus grow well here in Tasmania and there is an amazing Irish Yew in a very old graveyard that is the most wonderful enormous golden tipped representation of Don King! Anything with that much character and staying power is welcome on Serendipity Farm 🙂
Are they more poisonous of ground down mortar and pestle and drinking juice ie.in tea? or better just chewed they are supposed to taste nice arent they? Just wondering I know someone who may be writing a muder mystery.
Dying is not my area of expertise. Avoiding dying is. The offending chemical is taxine. Death from ingestion is related to the amount ingested and which part. The entire plant is toxic which is a threat to livestock. Humans who have died from it usually ate some seeds. Deatha is sudden, cardiac arrest, usually with no other symptoms. An analysis of matertial in the mouth or stomach usually confirms the consumption. The aril is edible in small amounts, but the alkaloid is concentrated in the seed. If I were writing a mystery novel (and I have written nine of them) I would just toss the nuts in with a few other nuts. Interestingly Yew is not mentioned in Deadly Doses, a writer’s guide to poisons.
I bought seeds of Japanese yew and now after reading this I Just want to know whether the seeds I bought is also poisonous. Does that seeds have poison even if I bought it?
Yews are dangerous. I would avoid all of them.
if the yew seeds are grind and boiled in water, would that removed the poison i wonder?
Yes, yew is mentioned (at least in the edition I have) in Deadly Doses, on page 52.
Yeah, asking for a friend!
I remember looking this up. I’ve seen hedges of Yew in front of peoples’ homes on my way to work each day. I noticed the berries (which have come out again this year even more than last year), and I looked up “hollow berries” and “evergreen” or something to that effect. When I saw the pictures of the little red cups and the black seed, I knew it was Yew. And I also found out how poisonous it is. I wouldn’t chance it with the flesh of the fruit. I now refer to it as “Useless Yew” so I can remember it’s poison. I know it’s a bowmaker’s favourite, as there’s a guy where I live who makes bows from Yew. So I guess it’s not totally useless. But I still think it’s a good way to remember!
Yew [arils] are so yummy, and very easy to spit out the seed. It is the sweetest [aril] I have ever eaten, and the texture is not watery so much as syrupy. I encourage people to try it, your eyes will be opened. Putting the thing that kills you in your mouth without giving it the power to kill you is a great way to cheat death 😛
Yah! Finally a blog from someone else who enjoys yew berries. We used to eat the arils as teenagers, but always knew to spit the seeds out because everyone knew they were poisonous. I always thought they were delicious! Sad, that so many people are scarred to try this wild fruit..
Yup as a kid at the fruit and masterfully spit out the seed.Find it good to fight away symptoms of cold, maybe in my head..Folks i’ve lived on a farm and GMS or pesticides or canned foods glazed in preservatives will eventually kill you. Caveat Emptor…be your own guardian.
it’s not worth it, too many stupid people out there could bite into the seed and that is a bad bad idea.
I foraged some yew fruits today but have not eaten any of them. I need to determine the species that I have. They are ornamentals, but the fruit seed and arils do not look like the ones you have in the picture. The aril is external and it appears the seed is attached at the top… two seperate items that are fused together in the middle (lengthwise).
The best I can describe it is an oblong purple grape about 3/8″ diameter with a length of 5/8″ long attached to a stem. On the very end opposite the stem is a smaller green grape about 1/3 the size attached to the purple grape. The purple aril is soft and smooth and the green part is hard and smooth. Both purple and green parts have a waxy white substance that will scratch off with your finger nail.
I guess that is a Podocarpus rather than Taxus, but I’m no expert.
My yew article is about the yew (Taxus.) My podocarpus article is about the podocarpus. Neither seed is eaten.
ahhhh… found your video on Yew Plum Pine – Podocarpus macrophyllus
now that I know, I’ll try a taste 🙂
The aril of the Podocarpus macrophyllus tastes almost like grapes (seedless) to me. The texture reminds me of the seedless grape also. Tried my first one today! Yummy.
Hi,
I just discovered your wonderful site. I did want to mention that the bow pictured on the Yew page is not a longbow, it’s a modern recurve. The good old English longbow was carved from a single piece of Yew. Its use is credited with the success of the English over the French in the Battle of Agincourt. Robin Hood is supposed to have prefered a “gude bowe of Yew,” too, if you can believe the legends.
Cheers,
Steve
Please help!
We have both hemlock (trees) and yew in our area, though the yew is considerably more rare.
Can you tell us how to tell the difference between them when the red fruits are not present to identify the yew?
I covered that in this November last newsletter:
https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-20-nov-2012/
yew doesnt have very much of a smell but hemlock has a strong piney smell.
I have yews around the yard. Each winter they get eaten by the deer. I haven’t seen any dead yet. How do they get away with that ? :}
What is deadly as a plant varies from animal to animal. Deer can eat yew. Horses cannot. Humans can eat avocados, nearly no animal can. Birds can eat arsenic. Box turtles can eat mushrooms that would kill us.
These are all interesting questions as well as well advising answers. Thank you for the site. Will continue to use as guide.
Deer
Why risk it?!!??
Maybe if you were starving and lost in the California mountains for two weeks and could identify the Pacific Yew and it was at the perfect fruiting time and there was no choice but to do something, anything or perish. Other than that it’s just risky behavior.
As a Landscape Architect I have first hand knowledge. A clients gardener for years would prune shrubs and trees and mow the lawns and toss the clippings over the fence for the clients cattle to graze on. The decades old yew trees had never been pruned and the gardener pruned them up a bit to open up the view of the pastures and tossed those clipping over the fence with the lawn clippings.
There happened to be 50 prize young bulls in the pasture that day. They grazed on the yew and grass clippings. The gardener left, his job done for the day. As the clients described to me, they were looking out their windows and noticed a couple of the bulls tettering on their feet. As one of them said “I wonder what’s wrong with those bulls?”, both bulls dropped like stones – then as they watched a couple more dropped. By the time they ran out to the pasture another 10 had dropped – dead by the time they hit the ground, by the time the vet got there all 50 were dead.
Evidently they had only eaten a little bit each while getting to the grass clippings. It didn’t take much and these were animals weighing over 1000 lbs each.
So what would it take to kill a human by accidently ingesting some yew?
Again I state “Why risk it!”
My friends and I been eating them since we were teenagers. It’s very easy to spit the seeds out. It’s not like base jumping or anything. I’m sure in an older era it was considered quite routine. Anyway, they are delicious, you should give it a try.
when I read that the spear head was 450,000 years old my eye balls nearly fell out of my head…. I am a metaphysical kinda guy and can dig the fringe so long as its tasteful but that absurd.
A quick google’ing confirms; 450,000 years old must be a typo lol
Jesse – i googled the 450.000 year old spear head too. Actually, many reliable sources back up this date. Humans have been around for ages. How much have we forgotten? https://archive.archaeology.org/9705/newsbriefs/spears.html
This is interesting. I got here with research about Taxol, classified as a prescription drug for cancer, from the yew tree. The berries (and especially seeds) must contain the same benefit as the bark.
I have Prostate cancer, and I am not worried about it. Two doctors tried to talk me into immediate surgery, another suggested radiation, all of which I refused. Instead I took two herbs, graviola and turmeric. My symptoms more than a year, stopped in three weeks. (With a lot of three time tests I also know to avoid much sugar and dairy products, or the herbs would fail.)
So despite the danger, I will find the access to perhaps tea made from this fruit or seeds for experiment. (I would NOT use a prescription drug; most of those I already refuse.) If it kills me, I prefer that to surgery. (If I believed doctors I would already have been dead three times, and now from my surgery refusal I am expected dead this year.)
marvin
So what happened, did you get better Marvin?
Marvin most likely is not around anymore the answer that!
For what it’s wort, my father in law was diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer in 2010, gleeson 3+4, and he has surgery and every other treatment offered, despite a grim outlook.
They thought it was contained in the prostate after surgery, but 2 yrs later came back elsewhere.
He still looks and feels perfectly well today however, thanks to his treatments offered. He would not have been around had he messed around making turmeric tea and everything else!
We have watched too many people we know with cancer follow the “natural route” and be gone long before their time, while those they decried for taking medical cancer treatments are still around to tell the tale.
Good luck to you, Sir.
I grew up in New York City and there was a neighborhood Yew bush that us kids would always snack on. I don’t recall the taste being great, but yes, syrupy. Occasionally I would bite into a seed but would spit it right back out as it was bitter. I guess I dodged some bullets there!
Would 10g of seeds ( arround 800 seeds )kill you ??
The yew seeds are good size, approaching a pea. One can kill you. Leave them alone.
thats enough to kill about 30 people
Yes
Hi Green
May I email you with a query I have about the Yew, please? Perhaps you could let me know by return email, if convenient? Thank you. F
What’s your question?
Is Japanese Yew also called Candy Tree, we used to eat the berries of a tree that looks a lot like this when we were kids. We were never told than anything about the trees toxicity. We did not eat the seeds, nothing but the fruit.
Thanks for writing. Technically, the Yew does not have “berries.” It has a seed inside a fleshy cup called an aril. That aril is edible when ripe. The seed will kill you. Don’t eat them.
Perhaps you were eating the fruit of the Japanese Plum Yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia) which is unrelated to the Yew in this article, and not (as far as I’m aware) considered poisonous.
It does look very similar though.
I see that you talk about some other kinds of yew, but I’m wondering: is Hicks Yews (Taxus x media ‘Hicksii’) also poisonous? (Is it more poisonous, less, or equally poisonous as the other kinds of Yew?)
I am thinking about planting this in my yard, but my dog tends to eat everything in sight (last year she ate some pokeweed berries, but survived, thankfully). If it’s highly toxic, I’ll not be planting it.
Can you let me know? Many thanks!
There are yew bushes in front of our house (and almost every other house in our neighborhood) that need regular pruning. Any ideas how to get rid of the clippings? Don’t eat them, I know, but can they be composted? used as mulch? burned? dumped in the woods? bagged up and taken to the landfill?
Landfill is a good idea.
We always threw them up in the woods or burned them
Great throw them in the woods for animals to eat them and die. Smart move
I actually used some yew pine brush as fuel for a BBQ grill, regularly. I did not have any adverse effects. Just so long as your food is not touching them you’re good, looking back on it I was probably not very wise, as I probably should have researched more and found out if the toxins in the wood break down in fire/heat and whether they can be carried in smoke. Maybe Green Deane can answer this one?
Was I just lucky?
super surprised you made it through a well informed article about yew toxicity without mentioning the taxane class of chemotherapy drugs derived there from.
I sometimes nom the berries if I’m thirsty on a run, but I’ve pretty much learned that things that are bad for cancer should not be pursued unless you’ve got cancer, cuz mostly chemo is a delicate balance between killing the patient and killing the cancer, and in my life it has gone both ways.
Is any part of yew tree (bark, leaves, berries) poisonous to aquatic creatures (e.g toads, goldfish, water snails, etc.)?
Green Deane – For decades I have been disturbed by the fact that the poisonous yew is one of the most common landscape shrubs. Your article says it all. I suppose they are so popular because their dense foliage takes well to be clipped into various shapes. Now that my kids are grown and gone I have too much free time. I decided to try my hand at self-taught topiary and over the space of 10 years turned a few old large yews and other shrubs into “green animals” in my yard. (Don’t worry – no small children around to get poisoned by them.) I wish I could send you some photos…people passing by enjoy seeing them. By the way, I just discovered your website yesterday and it is an absolute forager’s dream!!! Thank you so much for sharing your vast knowledge and sense of humor.
When I was a child my school was two blocks away from me, and the streets between my house and the school had central islands that were full of trees and yew bushes. I used to eat these berries all the time and never ate the seeds thankfully. I had no idea that they were that deadly or how much danger I was in. they are definitely very sweet almost like a honeysuckle, I enjoy them I thought they were great. I now live by the shore and I have not seen these plants in a long time. I’m sure that in a survival situation that these could come in handy as a sweetener as long as you use them carefully.
Over the years we have kept a number of ponys and horses in our large garden in Wales UK. In the Garden we have Yew, rhododendron, laurel, and with the animals roaming freely they have always avoided these plants even in winter when edible forage is poor, Never a problem. As they clearly have not read the poisons books or accessed Google I suspect the taste must be off putting.
How do you know they haven’t read the poisons books? I’m sure they accessed Google; everyone has by now!
Thanks for the tips about yews being poisonous. I’ve recently been munching seeds and leaves from what I now think to be a yew, and have been noticing less cardio capacity on my faster running excursions, with a touch of asthma that had been absent for over 30 years. Definitely going to stop now. Glad to not have worse effects.
Dumb foraging,
My son died last year through eating yew leaves.
Very sorry to hear that. Thank you for sharing that difficult information.
lmao
I’m so sorry to hear this.
Probably not a yew then.
Can you tell me if Yew can be made into a medicinal tea and or can Aconite be made into a medicinal tea. Can the two be combined for a safe tea for heart and respiration medicines?
Thank you for you professional and courteous response.
Sincerely
Ken
Have you not actually read any of this post?
I am highly allergic (as in almost immediate anaphylaxis). Can I be hurt simply by accidentally touching or rubbing up against the bark? Thanks
I have no idea. That is outside my pay grade. But I would suggest avoiding most Resveratrol supplements because they are made from Japanese knotweed.
Please can anyone tell me if I am putting my family at risk. We collect roof water which we use outside for watering the garden and washing the car etc (never drinking it). We have a male yew tree which sheds its needles and pollen onto our roof so of course some gets washed into the water tank. I have three questions:
1. Will the water become contaminated with the poison?
2. Will the roof water kill my plants?
3. Will vegetables watered with this roof water take up the poison and be poisonous for us to eat?
Would fallen yew needles (mostly from clipping) harm pachysandra ground cover under and nearby the shrubs? The cover is not doing well since I last trimmed the yew and left the needles on the ground. I’m hoping they are poisonous only to animals. Thanks.
dont worry too much, they just create an acidic PH in your soil – theres too much hype around this tree and it is making people over-poaranoid about it, its part of nature and it decomposes exactly as anything does. remember it is an organic organism not synthetic. If anything, grow
Camelia and Rhododendrons below the tree as they love acid soil, you could also throw some strawberries below as ground cover!
Thank you for this post! I was just shopping around for a shrub that would grow in partial shade and came across Yew Spreading Densiformis Hedge. I have 2 dogs and a small child so anytime I see a plant has berries I look it up. I saw your article right away. You’re my go to for this stuff ever since we took a class in Punta Gorda with you on native edibles in the area like 8 or 9 yrs ago. I remember you showing us a black and red seed and warning us it was extremely deadly. Maybe a yew seed?
I have tried a couple of arils yesterday. They’re quite nice. I kept the seeds to plant them.
I identified it using the app Plant Snap which helped me to identify a lot of other plants and trees.
I found these berries on the bushes in my front yard. Your article is very informative. Once you remove the seeds, can you make a jam or dry the arils to crush and use as a sweetener? There are thousands of them on my bushes this year. 2020 continues to bewilder me.
Hello,
Over the summer we moved into a home with a handful of tall yew trees in the back patio. I had placed my vegetable container pots nearby before I came to learn how poisonous these shrubs are.
I noticed that some of the spruce tips had fallen into the containers and some of the berries had fallen into the rain water I used to water these plants. I didn’t think much of it until I searched online whether these berries were indeed poisonous or not. To my dismay, not only are the berries poisonous but all the parts of the shrub is very poisonous.
Does the poison from the yew shrub transfer to the edible plants that grow near it? What about the water? Does the yew berries poison the water and then the soil, plant, produce, etc.? In fear, I didn’t eat any of the vegetables that had grown but was my fear unfounded? Also, is the soil in these containers compromised as well?
Your thoughts and expertise on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Lynn
My husband ate 50g yew tree leaves. He’s been sick please help
Call poison control, go to the hospital.
Hello Penny
Hope your husband is feeling much better now. Please write and tell of his experience. Was the consumption by “accident?” How sick had he gotten? How long did it take for him to show of his illness? Why did he consume that much Yew? Did responders have him checked into mental hospitalization?
Are the baby yews as poisonous as mature ones?
I would think so.
How dangerous are the seeds? Must they be chewed to release their contents? How many would be lethal? This is all new to me, and quite alarming.
if yew seeds were grind and boiled in water, would that make the water poisonous, it would be good to write an article on this.
Hi, do you know of any herbs or flowers to grow near or around Yew trees?
I was concerned about Marvin. So I did a little searching and he seems to still be kicking. Found him on fb. His name is not common. His profile is without the middle initial, but I saw a post where he signed it the same as here and he mentions prostate cancer in some of his posts.
I wonder if he ate the Yew?
As a healthy man in their thirties, would eating around 15 Yew Tree Seeds be fatal? I’m worried about a friend who’s gotten into their heads that it will kill them. They’re suicidal and pretty much the only thing that’s putting them off is the idea of it not working and then having to live with the consequences (shame from their family etc). If someone could give me an honest answer on this I would be very grateful.