What is yew used for in medicine?

Answer 1

The wood of the yew, because of its toughness, has always been suited for abuse-prone posts and furniture. Yet, yew played a much more important role in history.

The formidable English military weapon of the Middle Ages -- the longbow -- was made of yew. In fact the law decreed only royal longbowman could have yew bows. Commoners had to settle for ash and elm. At times, yew became scarce, and the English had to import their bow wood from Spain and Italy. At the Battle of Crecy on August 26, 1346, the English devotion to yew longbows became well-justified. The rapid-firing longbowmen destroyed the French cavalry and carried the day.

Although the wood of Pacific yew has been used for furniture and handicrafts, for many years this species was considered an impediment to the harvest of larger timber trees. Therefore, many stands were indiscriminately cut down. More recently an extract of the bark of this species was found to yield a compound (taxol) that is a potent drug for the treatment of certain types of cancer. Unfortunately, the plants grow slowly and must be some 100 years old before the bark is harvest able. This has led to the destruction of more wild populations but also to a search for related species of the genus Taxus that might contain taxol.

One of the properties the tree is used for:

The chemotherapy drug paclitaxel, used in breast, ovarian and lung cancer treatment, is derived from Taxus brevifolia. As it was already becoming increasingly scarce when its chemotherapeutic potential was realized, the Pacific Yew was never commercially harvested from its habitat in the large scale; the widespread use of the paclitaxel was enabled when a semi-synthetic pathway was developed from extracts of cultivated yews of other species. Unlicensed pharmaceutical production use of closely-related wild yew species in India and China may be threatening some of those species.

Answer 2

Yew is one of the hardest woods of all, still classifies as a "softwood", the trunk tends to be deeply fluted and twisted, converting Yew into boards is uneconomical and impractical, the twisted growth also make it's unpredictable.

Yew is also one of the few softwoods that can be steam~bent effectively which is why you see it used for curved work in country chairs.

The most well known use for Yew was the ancient longbow, Yew is mostly used today for small carvings, boxes, and turnings.

Answer 3

when a person don't like something, they say yew...used to remove attention from it...

Answer 4

for to sickup the children