Taxus cuspidata

Taxus cuspidata - Japanese yew

The yew genus (Taxus) includes 8 species which are very similar in habit and in characteristics. They are all poisonous, slow-growing evergreen shrubs or trees which live long. They are all dioecious, i.e. the male plants produce pollen, while the separate female plants develop red berry-like cones in autumn, which are in fact naked seeds almost totally enclosed in a fleshy red aril.