Yew

Value for beekeeping

Yew is a very slow-growing conifer that can live for hundreds of years. Male and female plants are separate and pollination is by wind; there is no nectar. At the end of winter the small cones of the male trees shed abundant pale yellow pollen, which bees collect on mild days. Yew is therefore only an early pollen source.

Flowering

From late February to early April, varying with altitude. It coincides with hazel and cornelian cherry.

Honey and pollen

It yields no honey. No common record is known of the pollen having harmful effects on bees.

Note for the beekeeper

The leaves, bark and seeds are poisonous to people and animals, potentially fatally; no part is edible except the red, fleshy seed coat. If the apiary is on land grazed by livestock, do not leave pruning waste lying about. In Turkey it is rare in the Black Sea region and the Taurus and is protected.