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Montana Field Guides

Pacific Yew - Taxus brevifolia

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Native Species

Global Rank: G5
State Rank: S4
(see State Rank Reason below)
C-value: 7


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

External Links

State Rank Reason (see State Rank above)
See rank details.
  • Details on Status Ranking and Review
    Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia) Conservation Status Review
    Review Date = 05/24/2012
    View State Conservation Rank Criteria
    Population Size

    Score0-1 - Moderate to Large: Population size is imprecisely known but is believed to be >10,000 individuals.

    Range Extent

    Score1 - Peripheral, Disjunct or Sporadic Distribution in MT: Widespread species that is peripheral, disjunct or sporadically distributed within MT such that it occurs in <5% of the state (<7,500 sq. miles or the combined area of Beaverhead and Ravalli Counties) or is restricted to 4-5 sub-basins.

    Area of Occupancy

    Score0 - High: Occurs in >25 Subwatersheds (6th Code HUC’s).

    Environmental Specificity

    Score1 - Moderate: Species is restricted to a specific habitat that is more widely distributed or to several restricted habitats and is typically dependent upon relatively unaltered, good-quality habitat (C Values of 5-7).

    Trends

    Score1 - Minor Declines: Species has experienced declines of 10-30% in population size, range extent and/or occupied area in the recent past (approximately 30 years).

    Threats

    Score1 - Medium: 11-30% of the populations are being negatively impacted or are likely to be impacted by one or more activities or agents, which are expected to result in decreased populations and/or habitat quality and/or quantity.

    Intrinsic Vulnerability

    Score0-1 - Low to Moderate Vulnerability.

    Raw Conservation Status Score

    Score 4 to 6 total points scored out of a possible 19.

 
General Description
Dioecious, evergreen shrub or small tree to 10 m tall with spreading or drooping branches forming an open, conical crown. Bark thin and brown or purplish. Leaves sharp-pointed, yellow-green above, paler beneath, 12–20 mm long, single but borne opposite each other in a single plane. Pollen cones solitary, globose, 2–3 mm long. Seed cones reduced to a single seed surrounded by a red, fleshy, pea-size, berry-like aril ca. 8 mm across. Seed 5–6 mm long (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Species Range
Montana Range Range Descriptions

Native
 


Range Comments
In MT in some northwestern counties and disjunct in Cascade County; AK to CA, ID and MT (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 681

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)



Habitat

References
  • Literature Cited AboveLegend:   View Online Publication
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
  • Additional ReferencesLegend:   View Online Publication
    Do you know of a citation we're missing?
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
    • Little, E.L., Jr. 1979. Checklist of United States trees (native and naturalized). Agriculture Handbook No. 541. U.S. Forest Service, Washington, D.C. 375 pp.
    • Morgan, J.T. 1993. Summer habitat use of white-tailed deer on the Tally Lake ranger district, Flathead National Forest. Ph.D. Dissertation. Montana State University, Bozeman. pp. 103.
    • Strobel, G. 2018. The emergence of endophytic microbes and their biological promise. Journal of Fungi 4(57). 16 p. doi:10.3390/jof4020057
  • Web Search Engines for Articles on "Pacific Yew"
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Citation for data on this website:
Pacific Yew — Taxus brevifolia.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from