DO YOU KNOW THE YEW?

Here is one of the most interesting trees of Mt. Rainier National Park, as well as the entire humid forest region of the Northwest and Pacific Coast. To the casual hiker it would, no doubt, be passed by entirely unnoticed or, if it did arrest the glance, its foliage is so nearly like that of the other conifers in general appearance that it would be considered as Fir or Hemlock without further investigation. Yet when one has established the identity of the Western Yew and understands its differences he wonders just how it could have ever been confused with its associates for it is very dissimilar in foliage, form, character of wood and bark as well as seed or fruit.

It is a small tree, rarely growing to better than 30 or 40 feet in height or more than 18" in diameter and it is generally much smaller. Instead of possessing a straight, central trunk the Yew is usually much distorted as to form and the trunk, encased by thin, purple-red bark, is often prominently fluted. The foliage is needle-like, a yellow green in color and evergreen but unlike its associates the needles are pointed with a soft, tiny spine at the tip and the lower side of the needle is of a very much lighter green in color. It is not a conifer and so is distinct from the pines, spruces and others of the cone bearing trees and so in the fall, when the bright red berries of the Yew is found on the branches this tree is quite distinct from the other evergreens. This bright, red berry consists of a small, hard seed almost completely surrounded by a reddish, gelatinuous substance whose sole purpose is to attract the birds which devour the berry greedily and thus serve as agents of dissemination for the Yew as its hard shelled seed is indigestible. In the days of Robin Hood, of story book fame, the English Yew which is a relative of our native species was preferred for bows by the English Knights and in more recent times the Indians of the Pacific Coast used this wood for harpoons -- or rather the shaft of the harpoon -- with which they hunted seal and whale on the high seas.