Taxus, Yew
While five varieties of Yew have documented use in Herbal Medicine, they are all extremely poisonous. Yew is one of the most toxic plants known to man. That said, Taxus baccata, Taxus brevifolia - Pacific Yew, Taxus canadensis - Canadian, Taxus cuspidata - Japanese Yew Nd Taxus x media.
One shrub-form Yew is native to my region, Taxus canadensis (Canada Yew).
Dioscorides wrote of Taxus as Milax:
Milax is a tree similar to the fir in its leaves and their quantities, growing in Italy and Narbona near Spain. Chickens that eat the fruit of that which grows in Italy turn black, and men that eat it fall into unconsciousness. That growing in Narbonie has such great strength that those who sit underneath (or fall asleep) are hurt by the shade, and that frequently they die. This is mentioned as a warning. It is also called thymalus, and the Romans call it taxus.
Gerard wrote of Yew:
The Yew tree, as Galen reporteth, is of a venomous quality, and against man's nature. Dioscorides writeth, and generally all that heretofore have dealt in the faculty of herbarism, that the Yew tree is very venomous to be taken inwardly, and that if any do sleep under the shadow thereof it causeth sickness and oftentimes death. Moreover, they say that the fruit thereof being eaten is not only dangerous and deadly unto man, but if birds do eat thereof, it causeth them to cast their feathers, and many times to die. All which I dare boldly affirm is altogether untrue: for when I was young and went to school, divers of my school-fellows and likewise myself did eat our fill of the berries of this tree, and have not only slept under the shadow thereof, but among the branches also, without any hurt at all, and that not one time, but many times. Theophrastus saith, That animalia, Galen translates them Iumenta, or labouring beasts, do die, if they do eat of the leaves; but such cattle as chew their cud receive no hurt at all thereby.
Nicander in his book Of Counterpoisons doth reckon the Yew tree among the venomous phants: setting down also a remedy, and that in these words, as Gorræus hath translated them.
Parce venenata Taxo, quæ surgit in Oeta
Abietibus similis, lethoque absumit acerbo
Ni præter morem pleno cratere meraca
Fundere vina pares, cum primum sentient æger
Arctari obtructas fauces animæque canalem.
Shun the poisonous Yew, the which on Oeta grows,
Like to the Fir, it causes bitter death,
Unless besides thy use pure wine that flows
From empty'd cups, thou drink, when as thy breath
Begins to fail, and passage of thy life
Grows strait.
Pena and Lobel also observed that which our author here affirms, and daily experience shows it to be true, that the Yew tree in England is not poisonous: yet divers affirm, that in Provençe in France, and in most hot countries, it hath such a malign quality, that it is not safe to sleep or long to rest under the shadow thereof.
Culpepper wrote:
Description. It grows to be an irregular tree, spreading widley into branches. The leaves are long, narrow, and placed with a beautiful regularity. The flowers are yellowish, and the berries are surrounded with a sweet juicy matter.
Place. We have it growing in woods, and in the gardens, but its usual ancient residence is the church-yard: conjectures upon the antiquity and origin of which plantatin, has brought forth much pedantic nonsense; Gray observes this in the Grave, a Poem, when he says,
"Well do I know thee by thy trusty Yew,
"Shading for years thy gloomy church-yard view;
"Cheerless, unsocial plant, that loves to dwell
"Where scatter'd bones man's dissolution tell".
Government and virtues. This is a tree of Saturn. The leaves are said to be poisonous; but the wood, if it grew with more regularity would be very valuable. This tree, though it has no place among the physical plants, yet does it not deserve (at least in our climate) so bad a character as the ancients give it, viz. a most poisonous vegetable, the berries of which threaten present death to man and beast that eat them; many in this country having eaten them and survived. However that be, it has very powerful poisonous qualities, that rise by distillation. In this form it is the most active vegetable poison known in the whole world, for in a very small dose it instantly induces death without any previous disorder; and its deleterious power seems to act entirely upon the nervous system, and without exciting the least inflammation in the part to which it more immediately enters. It totally differs from opium and all other sleepy poisons, for it does not bring on the lethargic symptoms, but more effectually penetrates and destroys the vital functions, without immediately affecting the animal. These observations would not have been made, or the article inserted here, but to caution against any rash application of it, for though it is sometimes given usefull in obstructions of the liver and bilious complaints, those experiments seem too few to recommend it to be used without the greatest caution. The deleterious qualities of laurel-water are more than equalled by this.
Mrs. Grieve tells us:
Description---A tree 40 to 50 feet high, forming with age a very stout trunk covered with red-brown, peeling bark and topped with a rounded or wide-spreading head of branches; leaves spirally attached to twigs, but by twisting of the stalks brought more or less into two opposed ranks, dark, glossy, almost black-green above, grey, pale-green or yellowish beneath, 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches long, 1/16 to 1/12 inch wide. Flowers unisexual, with the sexes invariably on different trees, produced in spring from the leaf axils of the preceding summer's twigs. Male, a globose cluster of stamens; female, an ovule surrounded by small bracts, the so-called fruit bright red, sometimes yellow, juicy and encloses the seed.
No tree is more associated with the history and legends of Great Britain than the Yew. Before Christianity was introduced it was a sacred tree favoured by the Druids, who built their temples near these trees - a custom followed by the early Christians. The association of the tree with places of worship still prevails.
Many cases of poisoning amongst cattle have resulted from eating parts of the Yew.
Constituents---The fruit and seeds seem to be the most poisonous parts of the tree. An alkaloid taxine has been obtained from the seeds; this is a poisonous, white, crystalline powder, only slightly soluble in water; another principle, Milossin, has also been found.
Uses---The wood was formerly much valued in archery for the making of long bows. The wood is said to resist the action of water and is very hard, and, before the use of iron became general, was greatly valued. (In homoeopathy a tincture of the young shoots and also of the berries is used in a variety of diseases: cystitis, eruptions, headache and neuralgia, affections of the heart and kidneys, dimness of vision, and gout and rheurmatism. - EDITOR)
King’s American Dispensatory of 1898 tells us:
Excepting the pulp of the fruit, all parts of the yew tree are poisonous. Pliny, Dioscorides, and other ancient writers, mention the poisonous properties of the leaves and seed, and it has been recorded that wine, preserved in casks made of its wood, has occasioned the death of those who drank it. Strabon states that the Gauls used the juice of the leaves as a poison for their arrows. More recent observations have confirmed the statements as to its toxic character and we frequently read of animals and birds that have been poisoned by the leaves and berries. It is likewise stated that the exhalation emanating from the tree may occasion vertigo, lethargy, and a kind of drunkenness, and that even death may ensue to those who carelessly sleep beneath its branches. Prof. Redwood read a paper before the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (1877), citing the fatal result from drinking a decoction of the leaves.
Chemical Composition.—The poisonous principle of yew resides in an alkaloid taxine, first isolated from the leaves by H. Lucas (Archiv der Pharm., 1856, Vol. CXXXV, p. 145), and later from the leaves and fruits by Marmé (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1876, p. 353), and by A. Hilger and Fr. Brande (ibid., 1890, p. 297). According to Marmé, it is a white crystalline powder, little soluble in water, soluble in ether, alcohol, chloroform, etc.; insoluble in petroleum-ether. It melts at 80° C. (176° F.), and produces a red color with concentrated sulphuric acid. Amato and Caparelli (ibid., 1881, p. 56) obtained from the leaves a probably similar alkaloid, volatile oil, and a non-nitrogenous, crystalline substance, which they called milouin.
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—The symptoms occasioned by the juice or extract of the leaves, vary according to the quantity that has been taken. In large doses, there is pallor, vertigo, spasm, and symptoms of collapse, with gastric and enteric irritation, enfeebled and deranged cardiac action, coma, and death. Not unfrequently, very large doses are followed by a prompt diminution of the vital forces, or by positive syncope, in either case speedily terminating in death, without any of the severe symptoms of irritation being manifested. Post-mortem investigations have found some indications of inflammation of the stomach and bowels, of active renal congestion, and of diminished heart-power, with a greater or lesser deprivation of the coagulable quality of the blood. It has been used in the attempt to produce abortion, but always fruitlessly, and in some instances has proved a fatal experiment. In cases of poisoning by the ingestion of this article, it should be promptly removed from the stomach by emesis, after which milk or other bland drinks may be administered, at the same time sustaining the strength, if necessary, by the prudent exhibition of stimulants. The red berries are not injurious. Percy, in former times, prepared a jelly and a syrup from them, which he used in cough, chronic bronchitis, and to relieve the pain in calculous nephritis. The leaves have likewise been recommended in certain maladies, which it is unnecessary to name, as we have no satisfactory evidence of their efficacy. The leaves have been given in doses of 1 to 5 grains; or the infusion may be given corresponding in dosage.
Plants for A Future states:
Medicinal use of Canadian Yew: The Canadian yew is a very poisonous plant, though it was employed medicinally by several native North American Indian tribes who used minute amounts of the leaves both internally and externally in order to treat a variety of complaints including rheumatism, fevers, influenza, expelling afterbirth and dispelling clots. Modern research has shown that it contains the substance "taxol" in its shoots and bark. Taxol has shown exciting potential as an anti-cancer drug, particularly in the treatment of ovarian cancers. This remedy is very toxic and, even when used externally, should only be used under the supervision of a qualified practitioner. See also the notes above on toxicity. The plant is abortifacient, analgesic, antirheumatic, antitumor, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, febrifuge and pectoral.
Known hazards of Taxus canadensis: All parts of the plant, except the flesh of the fruit, are highly poisonous.
Peterson Field Guides Eastern and Central Medicinal Plants states:
American Indians used minute amounts of toxic leaf tea internally and externally, for rheumatism, bowel ailments, fevers, colds, curvy, to expel afterbirth, dispel clots, diuretic, twigs used as a fumigant in steam baths for rheumatism. Leaves (needles) said to be antirheumatic and hypotensive. Yew sap used by Celts to produce poison arrows. A component of the plant is under investigation for anticancer activity.
Warning: All plant parts (except, perhaps the red aril) of this and other yews contain toxic alkaloid taxine and are considered poisonous. Ingesting as few as 50 leaves (needles) has resulted in fatalities.
This article is an excerpt from
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