I have yew tree paranoia, please help?

Yews, Taxus baccata are sacred and harmless, mostly, in fact they have anti carcinogenic properties, but the seeds are poisonous to humans and livestock i believe. i also heard that pilgrims used to eat the flesh of the fruit and spit the seeds out at various churchyards hence the abundance of yew trees :)

Thankyou =) Was starting to freak out a bit.

I didn’t know that was the reason there’s lots in graveyards, that’s kinda interesting; I read they’re a symbol of rebirth as well, so I suppose it all makes sense…

You are safe, what you are seeing is the pollination of the trees.

http://www.shee-eire.com/Herbs,Trees&Fungi/Trees/Yew/yew1.htm
The leaves of the yew are now used to produce a drug which inhibits cancer cell growth permanently, called taxol. Leaves, bark and seeds are poisonous; do not ingest. (For Everest’s limited vocabulary, “ingest” means “eat”). The flesh of the berries can be used as a laxative and a diuretic.

PROPERTIES: Anti-Cancer, stops cell mutation. Taxol is extracted from the leaves of cultivated species. (Taxol requires trained professionals; you can’t do this at home.) Berries: Diuretic and Laxative. Historically it was used as a cardiac stimulant, and an abortifacient. From this statement, it sounds like ingesting the meat of the berry would cause increased blood pressure and cramps.

All I know is Yew trees stink like cat pee. I also think they make some sort of booze out of them and possibly even some medicines.

Thanyou very much =)

@TheLoneMonk I’ve never noticed the cat urine before, but I’ll take extra notice in future…

Did ewe no that yew wood makes for good bows?~

Is this how we get “euthanasia” from “yewthanasia”?

“Yew’d better look out, yew’d better not shout…...”

I think yew’ll be just fine.

So many yew (and ewe) related puns… =P

Ewe’d think weed bee Finnished with this sort of thing bye now!

Bye now!

@Trillian & @janbb Son of a birch! I’m sycamore of these damn puns. You beeches better nip this in the bud, oakay? I’m ashing you, please! I pine for the days when we were all just aspen and answering questions without all these old chestnuts. I’d butternut see any more of these today. Maple-ease stop it now?

@CyanoticWasp Oh, yew wait, bud. Yew can go to hull, and bark all the way-ward pine. You’re just a dogwood anyway. Nip it in the bud indeed, I’ll prune your apricots for ya’.

@CyanoticWasp Baby, I won’t even try to top that; you have trimmed me down to size and I thoroughly twig where you are coming from. I’ll just leaf you alone now.

@janbb No dammit, we won’t. We’re going to gang up on him and tag team him until he’s had enough!

@Trillian You are a sap for playing along with him.

@Trillian Can we branch out and beat him round the bushes?

I’m board with all of this now. I axed you to stop, but wood you? Yew wood knot. Well, I’m a stud, and of cord I can shrub this off. Moss of these puns are just a bunch acorn anyway; they ring hollow.

You’re going down bee boy!

@CyanoticWasp Oak. K., Oak. K., enough already!