Identifying Conifers with Yew-like Leaves

Common Yew can be quite a variable species, but the 3cm leaves can be distinguished from more unusual species because they are dull-yellowish below (most of the other species compared below have white bands on the leaf underside]; they are fairly soft but sharp-pointed and also tend to curve downwards. Yews are always rather broad (except for the fastigiate Irish Yew).

Douglas Fir is a rather oddball species (and very common in forestry) with similar-sized leaves, but which are arranged all around the shoot, and with small cones with distinctive exserted bracts.

Fir trees (Abies sp.) have thick needles which are attached by characteristic ‘suckers’; Grand Fir is the commonest forestry fir.

Spruces (Picea sp.) usually have four-sided needles, but there are a few species such as Serbian Spruce with flattened needles; the needles of spruces attach to the shoot by characteristic woody pegs.

Hemlocks (Tsuga sp.) are also common in forestry and as ornamentals; the needles are finer and smarter than those of yew, and there are usually small needles upside down on the top of the shoot; the commonest form is Western Hemlock.

Redwoods are common as ornamentals; three of the four species have flat needles: the evergreen Coast Redwood has short, pointed needles and a distinctive look as a mature tree. The deciduous Dawn Redwood has opposite side-shoots and is commoner than the finer-foliaged Swamp Cypress with alternate side-shoots.

The ‘Elegans’ cultivar of Japanese Red Cedar has very fine needles which turn copper-coloured in winter.

Rare flat-needled conifers include Plum Yew and Chinese Plum Yew with 8cm leaves and Chinese Fir with very broad leaves.

 
 

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Copyright © 2007 Philip Brassett