Yew Berry

Day 353: They say we have to unlearn almost as much as we have learned by the time we reach adulthood, and in my case, that included the myth regarding how frequently yews (Taxus) form arils. Arils, yes. That's what those berries are called. I grew up believing that yews only fruited every seventh year, and I hate to tell you how long I held onto that misapprehension. Yews were not particularly abundant in my area, and it was only after I moved here to a property fronted by a hedge of English Yew (Taxus baccata) that I began to suspect that my mother had lied to me about the plant. I had already confirmed her deviation from the truth with respect to Salal berries (NOT the plant in the above photo!). That came about when I was roughly nine years old after watching my playmate Sydie eat them by the handful. For weeks, I kept expecting her to fall over, but she never did. Even so, I avoided eating Salal until I confirmed its edibility as an adult. That said, the berries of the yew (one type shown above) are poisonous. That, at least, was a truth taught to me at an early age.