Yew seeds in bright red arils

Yew seeds are surrounded by a red berry-like structure, the aril, which grows around the seed after it has formed. The red colour indicates it is mature.

All the parts, including the seed, of the European yew ~Taxus baccata~ are poisonous except the red aril. Birds eat the aril and seed but the seed is voided, undamaged, in their droppings, dispersing it away from its parent plant which can live for 400 to 600 years. The oldest yew in the UK is the Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, which may be around 2,000 years old, one of the oldest plants in Europe.