Taxus cuspidata Siebold & Zuccarini 1846

Common Names

Japanese yew, ICHII, ONKO (Japanese) (3); var nana is called KYARABOKU (6).

Taxonomic notes

The hybrid T. baccata × T. cuspidata is T. × media (2). There are two recognized varieties:

T. cuspidata var. cuspidata

Syn:
T. baccata L. var. cuspidata (Sieb. & Zucc.) Carr.;
T. baccata L. subsp. var. cuspidata (Sieb. & Zucc.) Pilg.;
T. baccata L. var. microcarpa Trautv.;
T. cuspidata Sieb. & Zucc. var. microcarpa (Trautv.) Kolesn.;
T. cuspidata Sieb. & Zucc. var. umbraculifera (Sieb. ex Endl.) Makino;
Cephalotaxus umbraculifera Sieb. ex Endl.;
T. cuspidata Sieb. & Zucc. var. latifolia (Pilg.) Nakai) (5).

T. cuspidata var. nana hort. ex Rehder (syn: T. cuspidata f. nana) (5).

Ohwi (6) also describes a var. luteobaccata Miyabe & Tatew. (Jap.: KIMI-NO-ONKO) with a yellow aril.

Description

Tree: Erect, to 16 m tall with a pyramidal form (3).
Bark:
Branches: Spreading or ascending (6).
Shoots: Red-brown (3).
Leaves: Spirally arranged, appearing 2-ranked, linear, 15-25 × 2-3 mm, abruptly narrowed to a short spinescent apex, abruptly short-petiolate at base, dark green with a prominent midrib on the dorsal surface when dry, the ventral side with 2 wide tawny stomatal bands (6).
Cones: Aril red when ripe (6).
Pollen cones:
Seeds:
Wood:
Similar species:
Var. nana is a low shrub with ascending, densely arranged branches, leaves not appearing 2-ranked; native to Japan Sea side of the mountains in Honshu (6).

Range

N Korea; China: Heilonjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Liaoning, Hebei, Shaanxi, and Shanxi; Russia: E and S from the Amur R. basin (incl. Sakhalin I. and Kurile Is.); Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. (3, 5). Exploitation has rendered it rare in much of its range.

Big Tree

"A tree in Kedrovaya Pad Nat. Res., in S Ussuriland, is 2.8 m dbh and 15 m tall. Another one on Shikotan Isl., Kuril Islands, is 20 m tall, 50-60 cm dbh" (4).

Ernest Henry Wilson in 1916 reported that the largest specimens he encountered were in the Diamond Mountains of central Korea and reached 18 m tall, 97 cm dbh, "with large spreading branches forming handsome crowns" (3).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

A common ornamental in Japan (particularly var. nana (6)) and also in the West since its introduction to the U.S. in 1833. Readily shaped into hedges and topiary, and said to be the hardiest, fastest-growing and easiest to cultivate of all yews. In Japan, it was formerly valued for piles and foundations, cabinetry, finish carpentry, woodcarving, water tanks, pails, bathtubs, trays, chopsticks, clogs, and for bows (for which it was also used by the Ainu). Medicinally it was used as an abortifascient and antidiabetic. Commercial use has greatly declined in recent decades due to overexploitation (3).

Observations

Remarks

Citations

(1) Silba 1986.

(2) Matthew H. Hils at the Flora of North America web site.

(3) Hartzell 1991.

(4) Vladimir Dinets, e-mail communication, 10-Jan-1998.

(5) Farjon 1998.

(6) Ohwi 1965.

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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/~earlecj/ta/ta/cuspidata.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail: earlecj@conifers.org
Last modified on 16-Mar-2000

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