Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes ProCon History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos
Japanese yew
Table of Contents
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata)
Quizzes
Spreading oak tree in summer. (green, leaves, deciduous, shade)
Trees: Giants Holding the Sky
Field of baobab trees, Madagascar. (bottle tree)
Trees of the World
Venus's-flytrap. Venus's-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) one of the best known of the meat-eating plants. Carnivorous plant, Venus flytrap, Venus fly trap
Plants: From Cute to Carnivorous
Read Next
Plant seedlings emerging from rich fertile soil
Do Plants Feel Pain?
Ghost forest along the Lewis Gut - a stream along the coast near Core Point, North Carolina. Photographed in 2022
Ghost Forests Are Becoming the New Haunts of Climate Change
Anemone coronaria, the poppy anemone, Spanish marigold, or windflower, is a species of flowering plant.
What’s the Difference Between Angiosperms and Gymnosperms?
Hemp (Cannabis sativa).
9 Mind-Altering Plants
Sunlight shining on leaves. Photosynthesis
What Does Photosynthesis Produce?
Discover
Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.
Why Is Ireland Two Countries?
Thanksgiving Celebration Traditional Dinner Setting Food Concept
Why Is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Celebrated on a Thursday?
Baseball laying in the grass. Homepage blog 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society, sports and games athletics
10 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time
Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time
John F. Kennedy as a boy with his family
What Did We Call America’s Elite Before the “1 Percent”?
Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”
Super Typhoon Noru over the western tropical Pacific Ocean as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA Aqua satellite July 31 2017
What Is the Difference Between a Typhoon and a Super Typhoon?
Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata)
Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata)

Japanese yew

plant
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://www.britannica.com/plant/Japanese-yew
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Also known as: Taxus cuspidata, spreading yew
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History
Also called:
spreading yew
Related Topics:
yew
See all related content

Japanese yew, (Taxus cuspidata), an ornamental evergreen shrub or tree of the yew family (Taxaceae), native to Japan and widely cultivated in the Northern Hemisphere. Rising to a height of 16 metres (about 52 feet), it resembles the English yew but is hardier and faster-growing. Each leaf has two distinct, yellowish bands on its underside. There are many horticultural varieties of Japanese yew. Plants propagated from cuttings of lateral branches tend to be prostrate and shrubby, while cuttings from leader shoots are erect and symmetrically conical. Several hybrids have been obtained by crossing the Japanese yew with the English yew; the most common, Taxus ×media, has about 10 varieties.