Taxus baccata
Specifications
Family
Taxaceae
Species
Taxus baccata L.
englis yew
common yew
Description
The sapwood is white and the heartwood is purplish red, very hard, heavy, homogeneous and very fine-grained, easy to work.
Plant morphology
Yew is a very slow-growing evergreen conifer, and for this reason, in nature it often appears as a small tree or shrub; in optimal conditions, it can reach 10–20 m in height. The crown has an irregular, globular shape, with branches extending from the base; the leaves are aligned on the same plane on the twig. The female flowers, when ripe, produce fleshy red arils containing a highly toxic seed.
Natural occurrence
Countries of origin and distribution
Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and North Africa. In Italy, it is present in all regions but sporadically and in limited numbers.
Habitat and ecology
It prefers moist, cool, shady locations with calcareous soil. Its altitudinal distribution ranges from 300 to 1,600 m.
Uses
Use class
CU1
CU2
CU3
CU4
CU5
Application areas
It is used for lathe work and cabinet making.
Use in musical instruments
In violin making, it is rarely used today for lutes and mandolins, while it was commonly used historically; the thin ribs could be strongly curved to form pot-bellied cases, often alternating sapwood and heartwood to create the striped chromatic effect clearly visible in historical paintings.
Technical data
Aesthetic characteristics
Grain
Obvious
Texture
Fine
Physical and mechanical properties
Density
ρ
ρ
760
kg/m3
Radial shrinkage
Rad. sh.
Rad. sh.
Medium, Modest
Tangential shrinkage
Tang. sh.
Tang. sh.
Medium, Modest
Durability characteristics
Fungal resistance
Very durable
Insect resistance
Resistant
Miscellaneous
It was the wood of choice for making military and hunting bows due to its elastic qualities. Extremely long-lived, it is often difficult to determine its age because the growth rings are not always visible due to particular structures (called climbing cords) that prevent accurate dating; the trunk is often hollow. In the Giardino dei Semplici in Florence, there is a yew tree planted by Pier Antonio Micheli in 1720. Some specimens are 1,500-2,000 years old. Due to depleted reserves and the lack of planting, Italy imports yew wood from England, despite having previously exported it to England.