Chinese Plum Yew

This is my favorite of the plum yews. An upright-growing yew-like shrub to tree, with needles in parallel rows. What separates C. fortu...Read Morenei from other species such as C. harringtonia is its extra long needles, which can approach 4-5 inches in length depending on the clone and how healthy it is. The long needles create an almost peacock feather effect when looking at the individual branches. Tolerant of shade, but likes a moist soil. Best grown in USDA zones 6 and up, protected from cold Winter winds in the northern zones. Can eventually become a good-sized tree. There's a specimen at the New York Botanical Garden in a protected alcove which is now 25 feet tall and about as wide. Plants are dioecious, with males sporting pollen cones in two rows beneath the needles, and females forming "fruits" which ripen over the course of two years, if pollinated. The fruits are edible and juicy, with a flavor somewhere between tropical and pine, but lacking in actual sweetness.

A slow-growing needled evergreen shrub that looks like yew. Highly resistant to deer, and much more heat tolerant than yew. Makes a good ...Read Moresubstitute for yew in the heat of the southeastern US, and anywhere deer are a problem. Unlike with yews, the "fruits" and seeds are edible.

Cephalotaxus fortunei CHINESE PLUM-YEW EG (z8)
A handsome shade-tolerant shrub,10-20'& wide-spreading (tho it responds readily t...Read Moreo pruning), this Chinese species has the longest needles,aver-aging 3" & curved downward like a scimitar;1"plum/olive-like frs.Sun-Sh