Scientific name: Cephalotaxus harringtonii (Knight ex J.Forbes) K.Koch 1873

Synonyms: Cephalotaxus buergeri Miq., Cephalotaxus drupacea Siebold & Zucc., Cephalotaxus koreana Nakai, Cephalotaxus koreana Nakai, Nageia koraiana (Siebold ex Endl.) Kuntze, Podocarpus koraiana C. Siebold ex Endl., Podocarpus koraianus Siebold ex Endl., Taxus coriacea Knight, Taxus drupacea (Siebold & Zucc.) C.Lawson, Taxus harringtonii Knight ex J.Forbes, Taxus inukaja Knight, Taxus japonica Lodd. ex Gordon, Taxus pedunculata (Siebold & Zucc.) C.Lawson

Common names: Harrington's plum yew, Cow tail pine, Japanese plum yew, Inugaya (Japanese), Kaebi cha namu (Korean)

Description

Tree or shrub to 8(-12) m, with trunk to 0.3(-0.6) m in diameter. Bark reddish brown, weathering grayish brown, peeling in elongate scales and becoming furrowed with age. Crown dense and fairly regular. Branchlets generally remaining green in the second year, sometimes becoming shiny brown. Leaves needlelike, well separated from one another, spreading flat or raised in a V, shiny to dull dark green to yellowish green or bluish green above, duller beneath, the pale green to grayish green stomatal bands about twice as wide as the midrib region, each band with 12-15 lines of stomates. Needles (1-)2-3.5(-5) cm long, 2.5-4 mm wide, sword-shaped, straight or slightly curved forward, nearly parallel-sided, tapering abruptly to the roundly triangular tip, with a soft point less than 1 mm long, and to the broadly and roundly wedge-shaped base on a very short, thick petiole, flat around the midrib, the edges flat or narrowly turned down. Pollen cone clusters 4-8(-10) mm in diameter, with 6-10 pollen cones on a short stalk 3-4 mm long. Seed cones in groups of one or two (to six) on stalks 6-8(-12) mm long. Seeds (1.5-)2-2.5(-3) cm long, the skin passing through coppery yellow to red or purplish with maturity, obscurely ribbed.

The species name honors Charles Stanhope, the fourth Earl of Harrington, (1780 – 1851), whose famous garden of hedges and topiaries included examples of Japanese plum yew.

Common throughout Korea and the main islands of Japan. Scattered in the understory of deciduous hardwood forests; 1-1,000 m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

The species as a whole is Least Concern as its status is driven by the nominate variety and by var. nana, both of which are also Least Concern as they are widespread and have no major threats.

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.
Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland