1 2,S Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



been recorded of fatal results ensuing from having 

 eaten the berries, which, from the sweetness of the 

 mucilage, are very attractive to children. It is 

 not a little strange that so many writers should 

 have overlooked or denied their injurious char- 

 acter. Thus Du Hamel du Monceau :^ ' It is said 

 that the leaves and flowers of yew produce a 

 poison ; and that the fruit causes dysentery in 

 those who eat them. I have, however, seen chil- 

 dren eat them in quantity without inconvenience.' 



Plutarch declares that the fruit is poisonous, and 

 so also Pliny, w^ho has the following : ' Gracilis et 

 tristis, ac dira, nullo succo, ex omnibus (resiniferis) 

 sola baccifera.' ' Mas, noxio fructu! He differs 

 from Theophrastus, who thought the fruit edible 

 and harmless to man. Thus, he (Pliny) again 

 writes r' ' Letale quippe baccis, in Hispania pre- 

 cipue venenum est. Hanc Sextius Smilacem a 

 Graecis vocare dixit : et esse in Arcadia tam prae- 

 sentls veneni, ut qui obdormiant sub ea, cibumque 

 capiant, moviantur.' 



Gerard denies the poisonous properties of the 

 berries, 'for,' says he,^ 'when I was yonge and 

 went to schoole, divers of my schoole-fellows, and 

 likewise myselfe, did eat our fils of this tree, and 

 have not only slept under the shadow thereof, but 

 among the branches also, without any hurt at all, 



•• Traitd des Arbres. " Historia, Lib. iii. cap. x. ; cap. xx. 



^ The Herball or General Historie of Plantes, 1636. 



