© The Dabney Nursery
Plant: Spreading Japanese Plum Yew
Plum Yew · Cephalotaxus harringtonia var. prostrata
Size: 3 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
The spreading form of Japanese plum yew, growing only a few feet high but three to six feet across with low, arching branches clothed in dark green needle-like leaves. It is slow growing and one of the best evergreens for deep shade, taking clay or sand across a wide pH band as long as drainage is good. Once established it tolerates drought, heat and dry soil, and deer generally leave it alone. Use it as an evergreen ground cover, a low foundation planting or a mass in a shade garden where a broader shrub would crowd. Bark, leaves and seeds are poisonous if eaten and can cause contact dermatitis.
- Full Shade
- Grows to 8 ft tall and 6 ft wide
- Blooms in spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 6-9
- Evergreen foliage
Plant description
The spreading form of Japanese plum yew, growing only a few feet high but three to six feet across with low, arching branches clothed in dark green needle-like leaves. It is slow growing and one of the best evergreens for deep shade, taking clay or sand across a wide pH band as long as drainage is good. Once established it tolerates drought, heat and dry soil, and deer generally leave it alone. Use it as an evergreen ground cover, a low foundation planting or a mass in a shade garden where a broader shrub would crowd. Bark, leaves and seeds are poisonous if eaten and can cause contact dermatitis.
- Flowers
- Non-showy yellow pollen sacs enclosed in a cone on male plants; female plants bear naked seeds.
- Foliage
- Dark green needle-like leaves under about 1.2 inches long, linear and feather-like, entire margined, with two white glaucous bands on the underside.
- Fruit
- On female plants, olive-like, red, fleshy seeds that resemble small plums.
- Light
- Deep Shade
- Native range
- Assam and China (species)
