Taxus brevifolia - Substances & Homeopatic Remedies - For Homeopaths - Homeovision

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Description of the substance

GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Pacific yew is a slow-growing evergreen shrub or tree which commonly
reaches 20 to 40 feet (6-12 m) at maturity [65,68].  On favorable
coastal lowland sites, scattered individuals can grow to 60 feet (18 m)
in height and have diameters of 2 to 3 feet or more (0l6-0.9 m) [5].  On
poor sites, such as those at higher elevations, Pacific yew grows as a
large sprawling shrub [62].  This large shrub or tree can reach maturity
at 250 to 350 years of age [62] and often survives for several centuries
[5].

Pacific yew is characterized by a conical crown and slender, drooping
horizontal branchlets [32,55].  The trunk is limby and often contorted
or malformed [29,32,62].  Twigs are slender, hairless and green, but
become dark reddish brown in the second growing season [32].  Bark is
very thin (approximately 0.25 inch [64 mm]), scaly, with purplish outer
scales covering newly formed reddish or purplish inner bark [30,32,62].
The root system is fibrous [68].

The sharp-pointed leaves are linear to lanceolate, 0.5 to 1 inch (1-3
cm) long, and spirally arranged [32,55,62].  Leaves are dark
yellow-green above and paler beneath [30,55].  Leaves persist for at
least 5 to 6 years [30,62].

Pacific yew is dioecious [30].  Globose, yellowish staminate cones
approximately 0.12 inch (3mm) in length are produced in abundance on
male plants [11,30].  Single, greenish, ovulate cones are borne on the
lower sides of branches [30,62].  Fruit is a red, fleshy, ovoid,
berrylike aril [30,55].  Each fruit is approximately 0.4 inch (1 cm) in
length and matures in one season [62].  The cup-shaped fruit surrounds a
large single, naked seed [30,70].  The seed is reddish, obvoid-oblong,
with a hard bony shell exposed at the apex [29,62].




GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Pacific yew grows along the Pacific Coast of southeastern Alaska
southward through western British Columbia to central California
[46,55].  In the Rocky Mountain region, it occurs from southeastern
British Columbia through northwestern Montana and northern Idaho into
eastern Washington and Oregon [46].

Dense stands of shrubby Pacific yew dominate approximately 40,000 acres
(16,000 ha) in the South Fork of the Clearwater Drainage of
north-central Idaho [14].  This plant has been essentially eliminated
from another 9,880 acres (4,000 ha) by timber harvest [14].