i have very
fond memories of
yew trees from when i was very
young. you see, there are two nice
american yew bushes growing at my house. and as good old
webby says, yews form
berries instead of
cones like other evergreens. it was always a wonderous time of year when the
berries began to ripen.
that meant it was time for my "artisitic ability" to take flight. for you see, ripe yew berries--and the semi-ripe ones--are deeply colored, at the darkest a near-black shade of purple. and they were *different colors* during the ripening process! i had a pale yellow, various pink and red shades, and finally the purples. during peak season, the bush had all the colors at once.
the chalk was always put away, then. forget chalk! for a few weeks, all sidewalks near my house were adorned with yew juice "paintings". it was a neighborhood event and all the kids came over for art time.
one of my overall fondest childhood memories, and just a heck of a lot of fun, to boot.