Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/479
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, extending westwards to Afghanistan, and eastwards to Bhutan and Khasia Hills.
A large, ever-green tree attaining in the Himalayas 10ft. and 20ft. girth of trunk. Branches spreading. Bark thin, purplish-grey, peeling off longitudinally. Wood hard, close and even-grained, smooth ; sapwood white, heartwood orange-red, light-red or white. Kanjilal says " though ' generally middle- sized,' the tree is sometimes very large, with a large spreading crown." Trunk short, branches horizontal, foliage dark-green. Leaves flattened, coriaceous, linear, distichous, l-l½in. long, 1-nerved, narrowed into a short petiole, no resin canal. Flowers dioecious, on short axillary branchlets, which are densely clothed with imbricating bracts. Male flowers pedicelled, sub-globose, with numerous, peltate scales, each bearing on the underside 3-6 anther-cells, dehiscing longitudinally. Female flower a single, erect ovule, surrounded at the base by a disc which is membranous in flower, but enlarges into a red, fleshy cup, surrounding the seed ; testa hard ; embryo in the upper portion of the endo-sperm ; cotyledons 2, thick, fleshy.
Uses : — "The leaves contain a volatile oil, tannic and gallic acids, and a resinous substance called toxin. Yew leaves and fruits have been given for their emmenagogue, sedative and anti-spasmodic effects. Pereira says that therapeutically the yew appears to hold an intermediate position between Savin and Digitalis, being allied to the former by its acrid, diuretic and emmenagogue properties, and to the latter by the giddiness, irregular and depressed action of the heart, convulsions and insensibility, which it produces. Yew is, however, reported to have one decided advantage over Digitalis by its effects not accumulating in the system, so that it is a much more manageable remedy than Digitalis. Besides its use as an emmenagogue and sedative in the same cases as Savin and Digitalis are administered, it has also been employed as a lithic in calculus complaints ; and as an antispasmodic in epilepsy and convulsions. According to Dr. Taylor the yew tree is sometimes used by ignorant persons to cause abortion. At the present time, yew is never used in regular medical practice in Europe,