Does anyone know anything about the "Taxus
baccuta" known as the Yew tree?
All I found in our Main Reference Library on it is in the Standing People thread:
My Grandmother planted four of them in front of her house and now they're huge trees (I've always called them "bushes" though). They look like this:
My Grandmother always told us as children that the purdyful berries are poisonous, but we had lots of fun splatting them on each others faces
I read that the leaves of the Yew are now used to produce a drug that stops cancer cell mutation permanently, called taxol.
I understand that they're considered sacred trees and wondered why they are labeled as such ~ I mean, aren't all Standing People sacred?
I also read that Yew was also employed as a poison, used for assassination, suicide, as an arrow poison, and cedar rose even let me know that . . .
According to some information I read, the dried leaves
are more toxic than young fresh leaves 
So... I
guess prolly shouldn't continue to munch on them, eh?
Well, there's a book I just may order called "The Yew Tree" but I wondered if anyone has more particular information about the Yew I've pictured above...?
All I found in our Main Reference Library on it is in the Standing People thread:
Quote:I did have an opportunity to read more technical information but I was wondering if anyone has any "esoteric" (for lack of a better word at the moment) information... Native American or otherwise...?
Yew: Berries are poisonous. Sacred to the Winter Solstice and the deities of death and rebirth. Irish practitioners use it to make dagger handles and bows.
My Grandmother planted four of them in front of her house and now they're huge trees (I've always called them "bushes" though). They look like this:
My Grandmother always told us as children that the purdyful berries are poisonous, but we had lots of fun splatting them on each others faces
I read that the leaves of the Yew are now used to produce a drug that stops cancer cell mutation permanently, called taxol.
I understand that they're considered sacred trees and wondered why they are labeled as such ~ I mean, aren't all Standing People sacred?
I also read that Yew was also employed as a poison, used for assassination, suicide, as an arrow poison, and cedar rose even let me know that . . .
Quote:I've also read that Yew were planted in graveyards as a form of protection from malevolent spirits and that its needles (I call them 'leaves') are used in rituals to communicate with the dead. I often chew on the needles ('leaves') like a snack
Robin Hood used a bow of Yew to win the Maid Marion, to whom he was betrothed under the branches of a Yew. At his death, he was buried beneath a Yew."
According to some information I read, the dried leaves
are more toxic than young fresh leaves So... I
guess prolly shouldn't continue to munch on them, eh?
Well, there's a book I just may order called "The Yew Tree" but I wondered if anyone has more particular information about the Yew I've pictured above...?
