Canadian yew
| Canadian yew | ||||||||||||
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Drawing of the Canadian yew tree |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Taxus canadensis | ||||||||||||
| Marsh. |
The Canadian yew ( Taxus canadensis ) is a plant from the genus of yew ( Taxus ) in the family of yew plants (Taxaceae).
description
The Canadian yew is a shrub that rarely grows taller than 2.5 meters. The very thin bark is reddish. The needle leaves are 1 to 2.5 cm long and 1 to 2.4 mm wide.
In contrast to most of the Taxus species, it is usually single-sexed ( monoecious ). The seeds that ripen in late summer or early autumn are 4 to 5 mm in size.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.
As with the European yew , all parts of the plant except for the red aril (seed coat) are poisonous; however, the poison is said to be weaker in the Canadian species. Despite its toxicity, the Indians also used infusions of the plant internally against rheumatism .
Occurrence
The Canadian yew tree is native to North America from Newfoundland to Manitoba , south to Virginia , Kentucky , Illinois and Iowa . It grows on moist soil or near water.
Taxonomy
Taxus canadensis was first described in 1785 by Humphry Marshall in his work "Arbustrum americanum", page 150. Synonyms of the species are Taxus minor (Michx.) Britton ex Small & Vail , Taxus baccata subsp. canadensis (Marshall) Pilg. and Taxus baccata var. canadensis (Marshall) A. Gray .
swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Taxus canadensis. In: The Gymnosperm Database. May 27, 2011, accessed October 25, 2011 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Tropicos. [1]
- ↑ a b Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Taxus. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved May 3, 2019.
Web links
- Taxus canadensis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Conifer Specialist Group, 1998. Retrieved on 12 May, 2006.