Cephalotaxus harringtonii

Japanese plum yew is in the yew or Taxaceae family and is native to Japan but has been cultivated in Europe since the 1820s. It grows up to 25 m tall.

• Evergreen needles are single, alternate, spirally arranged, 5 cm long and 3 mm broad, leathery, with a sharply spined tip, spirally arranged but appearing 2-ranked on branches with short petioles twisted to flatten needles in one plane. The underside of the leaves shows 2 broad, pale stomatal bands.
• Species is dioecious (individual trees producing either male or mostly female cones). Male cones are small, round, on 2–4 mm stocks, and yellow, 5–6 mm in diameter, in a double row on underside of shoot; females have 2 pairs of globose flowers on curved sticks at the bases of shoots.
• The fruit is ovoid, 2.5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, smooth and pale green in colour, with dark green stripes, turning brown when ripe.