Biological Name: Taxus baccata (European Yew).
Origins / Native Range: Europe, North Africa, and western Asia.
Interesting Facts:
• Long-lived – some individuals are estimated at over 2,000 years old.
• Traditionally planted in churchyards; associated with immortality and death.
• The foliage and seeds are highly poisonous, though the red aril (fruit covering) is not.
• Source of paclitaxel, a chemotherapy drug derived from yew bark.
Conservation Status: Not threatened – widespread, though often slow-growing.