DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Yew, n.
 1. Bot. An evergreen tree (Taxus baccata) of Europe, allied to the pines, but having a peculiar berrylike fruit instead of a cone. It frequently grows in British churchyards.
 2. The wood of the yew.  It is light red in color, compact, fine-grained, and very elastic.  It is preferred to all other kinds of wood for bows and whipstocks, the best for these purposes coming from Spain.
 Note: ☞ The American yew (Taxus baccata, var. Canadensis) is a low and straggling or prostrate bush, never forming an erect trunk.  The California yew (Taxus brevifolia, also called Pacific yew) is a good-sized tree, and its wood is used for bows, spear handles, paddles, and other similar implements; the anticancer agent taxol is obtained from its bark.  Another yew is found in Florida, and there are species in Japan and the Himalayas.
 3. A bow for shooting, made of the yew.

 California yew
      n : small or medium irregularly branched tree of the Pacific
          coast of North America; yields fine hard close-grained
          wood [syn: Pacific yew, western yew, Taxus
          brevifolia]