
Young plant of Dwarf Japanese Yew 
Tue Yew Famity, known botanically as 
Taxaceae, is composed of several genera, 
including Podocarpus, Cephlotaxus, and 
others. They belong to the conifers, al- 
though unlike true conifers, they are 
dioecious, the two sexes being on differ- 
ent plants. 
In the Taxus or Yew family there are 
7 species. Four of these are found in 
North America; one in Europe, two in 
Eastern Asia. Only one of the American 
species, a low bush, the American Yew 
(Taxus canadensis), a species which in- 
habits an extensive area in the northern 
forests of the United States, is of any 
importance as an ornamental tree. The 
other American species are scarcely 
known in horticulture, being confined to 
small localities in Florida, in the Far 
West, and in Mexico. 
This leaves only the Japanese species (Taxus 
cuspidata) together with its numerous horticul- 
tural varieties, and it is in this group that the 
greatest opportunity lies for horticultural devel- 
opment, and it is this group which we illustrate 
and describe in this catalog. 
The leaves of the Yew are usually flat and in 
two rows or ranks along the branchlets. In this 
respect all Yews are quite similar, a fact which 
accounts for the great difficulty experienced in 
identifying horticultural variations. 
All of the Japanese Yews have certain charac- 
teristics in common. As mentioned, the needles 
are quite similar in appearance. They produce 
their fruit in the form of a fleshy, cup-shaped 
searlet berry. As a family they are unexcelled in 
their ability to thrive under city conditions and 
are remarkable in their resistance to smoke and 
gas. Unlike almost any other family of Ever- 
greens, they survive and maintain a vigorous 
condition even in situations where there is but 
little or no sun. On the north side of buildings, 
under the shade of other trees, and under similar 
conditions, the Yews prove their great value. 
Dwarf Japanese Yew 
(Taxus cuspidata nana) 
HIS is the oldest known horticultural form 
of the Japanese Yew. It has been known in 
the nursery trade for a great many years. It 
is the darkest green of all the Yews, particularly 
when grown in a shady location. It is of very 
slow growth, forming a low, irregular and pic- 
turesque outline. 
Old specimens bear a closer resemblance to 
Boxwood than any other Evergreen, having the 
same graceful, billowy outline in old age as the 
well-known Box of the southern gardens. It has 
been planted for so many years that specimens 
are not uncommon up to 30 or 40 years old which 
may be 20 feet in diameter and perhaps four or 
five feet high. 

“The Japanese Yew, for ornamental purposes, 
is the most useful evergreen. In its different forms 
it 7s well suited for growing as a specimen on the 
lawn, as a low mound or mass near the house, and 
as a hedge plant; moreover, of all evergreens it best 
withstands city conditions. No matter what season 
of the year the Japanese Yew be examined it will be 
found a thing of beauty. For suburban gardens as 
for country estates and even for town gardens and 
parks it is of all evergreen shrubs the most useful 
and satisfactory.” 
—ARNOLD ARBORETUM 





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Old specimen of Dwarf Japanese Yew 

Dwarf Japanese Yew growing in deep shade 
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