Yew shrubs: Toxic taxus, poisonous plants!

We had them at all three of my parents’ houses when I was growing up, and there they were again when we were buying this house — two big ones along the foundation in the back, and some smaller ones at the foundation in front. I had always referred to them as generic “evergreens,” but our home inspector called them “yews,” which is also what my grandma used to call us kids.

Yew shrubs (the genus Taxus) are listed in The Garden Book for Wisconsin, and I glanced at that entry to make sure it was okay to prune them. Amy did the honors, shaping them with shears into pleasing spheres and cones during a break from pruning every other overgrown shrub in our yard this past Saturday.

The trimming left clippings, which I then spread over our beginning bird/butterfly garden as a mulch. I figured the price was right, and I liked the texture and the brownish-orange color they would turn.

Looking at our finished mulch, our neighbor recalled something about that evergreen being too acidic. I assured him it was fine — but later, I decided to double-check. The Garden Book for Wisconsin only mentions that “The red portion [of the small yew berry] is not toxic but the seeds, bark, and foliage are.”

Toxic, huh? Maybe it could cause a tummy ache, I assumed, or some sort of skin irritation. I googled it to learn more.

Whoa, Nelly!

As one profile states, “The plant is exceptionally toxic, with one mouthful able to kill a horse or cow within 5 minutes.” Another article matter-of-factly notes that the yew’s “Taxine alkaloids kill by slowing then stopping the heart. There is little struggling.”

It’s sudden death, plain and simple. The animal (or human), is first apprehensive, and then it’s dead. At least there’s no nausea and no rash.

All of this was complete news to me. As a kid, I remember some speculation among friends that the berries were poisonous. It turns out they’re the only part that’s not toxic, but even the small seed inside the berry is reason enough to pump a child’s stomach.

Needless to say, our innovative mulch came off yesterday, with us wearing gloves and being careful not to inhale near it. Apparently it is fine to add yew clippings to compost if you’re careful in handling them, so we did that instead and we’ll use the compost in a year or so for shrubs and flowers, not tomatoes or other food, I’m thinking.

Man — there’s more danger in my own backyard than I ever imagined!