Mevali zarnab
Taxus baccata green, negnyucha, negnnoy, mahogany - a species of trees of the genus Yew of the Yew family (Taxaceae). Height is 10-20 m, in some cases up to 28 m. It grows slowly, but has a long life expectancy - according to various authors, from 1.5 to 4 thousand years. The Fortingall yew growing in Scotland is considered one of the oldest in Europe, under the shadow of which, according to local legend, Pontius Pilate spent his childhood.
It grows in Western, Central and Southern Europe (in the north it reaches western Norway, where the world's northernmost natural habitats of the genus Yew are located), southern Sweden and the Aland Islands, northwestern Africa, northern Iran and southwestern Asia.
Tree up to 27 m tall and 1.5 m in diameter, with an ovoid-cylindrical, very dense, often multi-vertex crown, the bark is reddish-gray, smooth or lamellar. The buds are round or oval, blunt, light brown, with a few scales. The trunk is abundantly covered with dormant buds, which can give rise to lateral shoots. Leaves (needles) 20-35 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, slightly curled along the edges, glabrous, dark green above, shiny, with a clear midrib, pale green below, dull.
Anther cones are solitary, in the axils of leaves (needles), microsporophylls with 2-8 sporangia each. The seed cones are solitary, have one straight ovule, surrounded by a roof (aryllus), which grows when the seeds are sown into a ring-shaped, fleshy, bright crimson, sweet-tasting ridge. The seeds are hard, oval, brown. Pollination in April-May. The bark is suitable for making glue for catching birds. Leaves can serve as bioindicators of heavy metals in urban air.
Introduced into the Botanical Garden. Seeds of this species were brought to the Botanical Garden by Academician F.N. Rusanov in 1954. In the spring of 1955, they were sown in the nursery and the introduction of these species was studied; also in 04/18/1956 they were planted in the Coniferous Tree Nursery. Currently, 3 mature years of trees of this species grow in this nursery.
