Yew is a densely branching evergreen tree, with a big trunk that can reach up to 20m tall. The bark is thin, scaly, and brown; it comes off in small flakes. Its leaves are dark green, leathery, and narrow with a pointed tip. Yew seeds grow at the tip of a dwarf shoot, enclosed in a red, fleshy, cup-like structure called an aril.

Yew is often grown for ornamental purposes, either as a tree or as clipped hedges and topiary of all shapes.