Where do yew trees grow? An overview of their main distribution areas

Yew trees are widely distributed across Lechang in Guangdong; Shaanxi, Hubei, and western Anhui; as far as the Fanjing Mountain and Foding Mountain areas of Tongren City in Guizhou, Sichuan; most of southwestern Chongqing, as well as the Youyang Dabanying primeval forest; and southern Gansu.

Apart from one species in Australia that grows in the Southern Hemisphere, all other yew species grow in the Northern Hemisphere. China has 4 species and 1 variety of yew, distributed across most parts of the country. The Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata) is mainly distributed in the Changbai Mountains of Jilin Province and the Heilongjiang area, with a small distribution in the mountainous areas of eastern Liaoning. The Yunnan yew (Taxus wallichiana var. yunnanensis) is mainly distributed across 16 counties in western Yunnan and its prefectures, with a total area of about 90,000 sq km. It is characterised by a wide distribution, scattered growth, and no pure stands, mostly occurring as scattered trees within forests. The southern yew (Taxus wallichiana var. mairei) is mainly distributed in eastern Yunnan, southwestern Yunnan, and as pure stands in eastern Yunnan, mostly occurring as scattered trees within forests.

The reason yew trees faced catastrophe was that in the early 1990s, an American company discovered that taxol in yew bark has anti-cancer properties. When the news reached China and reached Yunnan, people suddenly realised that treasure was right beside them. People frantically stripped the bark off yew trees, and no one took the detailed Regulations on the Protection of Precious Tree Species in Yunnan Province to heart. As a result, more and more yew trees' lives were cut short overnight.

The State Forestry Administration once issued a clear directive on the “Yew Project”: “The yew is a Class I protected tree species in China, with both excellent ecological benefits and extremely high economic value. The state supports the vigorous establishment of yew forests within an appropriate scope, and all sectors of society participating in afforestation through contracting, leasing, auction, shareholding cooperation and other forms should be advocated and encouraged.”

Yew Nature Reserves

1. Liangyeshan National Nature Reserve is China's first national-level yew nature reserve, and the only national-level nature reserve with the southern yew as its protection target.

2. Muling Northeast Yew Nature Reserve was approved as a national-level nature reserve in 2009. More than 160,000 Northeast yew trees, known as the “giant panda of the plant kingdom”, will be further effectively protected.