Taxus × media
{{Short description|Hybrid plant species}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Taxus media.JPG
| image_caption = Two immature Taxus media var. hicksii yews planted in central Indiana, United States of America. Although T. media are slow-growing, the specimen on the right may require pruning within 2–3 years in order to avoid blocking the nearby sidewalk.
| genus = Taxus
| species = × media
| authority = Rehder
}}
Taxus × media, also referred to as the Hybrid yew, Anglo-Japanese yew, or Anglojap yew is a conifer (more specifically, a yew) created by the hybridization of English yew Taxus baccata and Japanese yew Taxus cuspidata.{{Cite web |title=Anglo-Japanese yew |url=https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/anglo-japanese-yew/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=The Morton Arboretum |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Taxus × media {{!}} Landscape Plants {{!}} Oregon State University |url=https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/taxus-media |access-date=2025-01-16 |website=landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu}} This hybridization is thought to have been performed by the Massachusetts-based horticulturalist T.D. Hatfield in the early 1900s.{{Cite web|url=https://plantdatabase.uconn.edu/detail.php?pid=496|title=Plant Database|website=plantdatabase.uconn.edu}}
Taxus × media is grown in a large number of shrubby, often wide-spreading, cultivars under a variety of names.
Description
Like most yew species, T. × media prefers well-drained and well-watered soils, but has some degree of drought tolerance and in fact may die in conditions of excessive precipitation if the soil beneath the plant is not sufficiently well-drained.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}
Taxus × media is among the smallest extant species in the genus Taxus and (depending upon cultivar) may not even grow to the size of what one would consider a typical tree. Immature shrubs are very small and achieve (over the time span of ten to twenty years) heights of at most {{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}} and diameters of at most {{convert|12|ft|m|abbr=on}}, depending on the cultivar. Furthermore, T. × media is known to grow rather slowly and is not injured by frequent pruning, making this hybrid very desirable as a hedge in low-maintenance landscaping and also a good candidate for bonsai.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}
Toxicity
Taxus × media also shares with its fellow yew trees a high level of taxine in its branches, needles, and seeds. Taxine is toxic to the mammalian heart.{{ cite journal | last1=Wilson|first1=C. R.|last2=Sauer|first2=J.|last3= Hooser|first3= S. B. | title = Taxines: A review of the mechanism and toxicity of yew (Taxus spp.) alkaloids | journal = Toxicon | year = 2001 | volume = 39 | issue = 2–3 | pages = 175–85 | doi = 10.1016/s0041-0101(00)00146-x | pmid = 10978734 }}
Varieties (cultivars)
{{Incomplete list|date=January 2025}}
References
{{Commons category|Taxus × media}}
{{Reflist}}
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