Taxus brevifolia Nutt.

vernacular Pacific yew — species · Taxaceae

USDA: TABR2
GBIF: 5284555
Rank: species

Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia) — Platephotograph · Kelly DixCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Gymnosperm
Family: Taxaceae Gray
Genus: Taxus

§2a

Native status, by region

AK Alaska Native
CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 1 county across 1 state

Legend Native · 1 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: Low
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: High

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -18 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 140 min.
Precipitation: 24–60 in/yr
pH range: 6.2–7.5
Root depth: 36 in min.
Fertility need: High
Soil texture: medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Slow
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 40 ft
Height @ 20 y: 8 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: Gray-Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: Moderate

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Early Summer
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 15,600
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Contracting Only
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.

Alaska view state ↗ 1 N ▾

Ketchikan Gateway 02130

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/TABR2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5284555 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T09:28:40Z