253 TAXUS BACCATA 



It is not official in the British Pharmacopoeia, or the Pharmacopoeia 

 of India, or the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. 



General Characters and Composition. The leaves have an acrid, 

 bitter, disagreeable taste, and an unpleasant odour. The red 

 succulent cup of the fruit has a sickly taste, but it is, however, 

 frequently eaten by children, and also by birds, wasps, &c. ; it 

 has no marked odour. 



The leaves contain a volatile oil, tannic and gallic acids, and a 

 resinous substance called taxin. Two pounds of the leaves, 

 according to Lucas, yield about 3 grains of taxin. This substance 

 is but little soluble in water, but readily so in alcohol, ether, and 

 dilute acids. The active properties of yew are probably due to 

 the taxin and volatile oil, but on this point we have no positive 

 evidence. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Yew leaves and fruits have been 

 given for their emmenagogue, sedative, and antispasmodic effects. 

 Pereira says that therapeutically the yew appears to hold an 

 intermediate position between savin and digitalis, being allied to 

 the former by its acrid, diuretic, and emmenagogue properties, 

 and to the latter by the giddiness, irregular and depressed action 

 of the heart, convulsions, and insensibility, which it produces. 

 Yew is, however, reported to have one decided advantage over 

 digitalis by its effects not accumulating in the system ; so that it 

 is a much more manageable remedy than it. Besides its use as 

 an emmenagogue and sedative in the same cases as savin and 

 digitalis are administered, it has also been employed as a lithic in 

 calculous complaints ; and as an antispasmodic in epilepsy and 

 convulsions. According to Dr. Taylor, yew-tree tea is sometimes 

 used by ignorant persons to cause abortion. At the present time, 

 however, yew is never used in regular medical practice, the 

 principal interest attached to it having reference to its poisonous 

 properties. Thus the leaves and young branches act as a 

 narcotico-acrid poison, both to the human subject and some other 

 animals, but more especially to horses and cows. Fatal cases of 

 poisoning have also occurred from swallowing the fruit. It is 

 frequently stated that animals may feed upon the young growing 



