page_title: Taxus baccata
section_title: Horticulture
hierarchical_section_title: Taxus baccata / Uses and traditions / Horticulture
caption_attribution_description: Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata' English: Irish yew
context_page_description: Taxus baccata is a species of evergreen tree in the conifer family, native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may now be known as common yew, English yew, or European yew. It is primarily grown as an ornamental. Most parts of the plant are poisonous, and consumption of the foliage can result in death.
context_section_description: Today European yew is widely used in landscaping and ornamental horticulture. Due to its dense, dark green, mature foliage, and its tolerance of even very severe pruning, it is used especially for formal hedges and topiary. Its relatively slow growth rate means that in such situations it needs to be clipped only once per year (in late summer).
  Well over 200 cultivars of T. baccata have been named. The most popular of these are the Irish yew (T. baccata 'Fastigiata'), a fastigiate cultivar of the European yew selected from two trees found growing in Ireland, and the several cultivars with yellow leaves, collectively known as "golden yew". In some locations, e.g. when hemmed in by buildings or other trees, an Irish yew can reach 20 feet in height without exceeding 2 feet in diameter at its thickest point, although with age many Irish yews assume a fat cigar shape rather than being truly columnar.
  The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:- 
  T. baccata
  T. baccata 'Fastigiata'
  T. baccata 'Fastigiata Aureomarginata'
  T. baccata 'Icicle'
  T. baccata 'Repandens'
  T. baccata 'Repens Aurea'
  T. baccata 'Semperaurea'
  T. baccata 'Standishii'
  European yew will tolerate growing in a wide range of soils and situations, including shallow chalk soils and shade, although in deep shade its foliage may be less dense. However it cannot tolerate waterlogging, and in poorly-draining situations is liable to succumb to the root-rotting pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi.
  In Europe, Taxus baccata grows naturally north to Molde in southern Norway, but it is used in gardens further north. It is also popular as a bonsai in many parts of Europe and makes a handsome small- to large-sized bonsai.
caption: An Irish yew (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata') planted at Kenilworth Castle
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