Cephalotaxus: The Plum Yew

sent Cephalotaxus to Europe where it was received with interest and appreciation.2 Siebold grew five different Cephalotaxus in his own garden in Japan, along with many other plants he had discovered, cultivating them for their beauty and for evaluation as garden plants. Today, although plum yews are widely considered some of the most beautiful and useful of evergreen conifers, their potential as ornamental and medicinal plants has yet to be fully explored and utilized. The endangered status of Cephalotaxus in the wild-particularly in China, its "distribution center and refuge,"3 where it is vulnerable to the increasing demands of an exploding human population-lends a sense of urgency to efforts to learn more about this fascinating genus. At the Arnold Arboretum, we are working to help conserve Cephalotaxus while continuing to study and propagate the genus for use in cultivation.