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| Fox Squirrel Savoring a Yew Cone |
I never paid this tree any mind until I saw a squirrel zipping all over it this morning. I was intrigued by the little red fruits it was eating, so I took some pictures that would help me identify it when I got home. But even while I was still out walking I realized I could just search for "conifer with red berries," which led me to the European Yew (Taxus baccata).
This is a different species than our Pacific Yew, from which the cancer-fighting medicine Taxol is extracted. Both yews produce good wood for archery bows (such as Robin Hood's legendary longbow), although the ones near McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park are probably too twisty to produce a good bow stave.
The squirrel was so fond of the fruits (which are modified seed cones; the fleshy red scale is call an aril) that I decided to try one myself. It was surprisingly sweet. I had just eaten a different red berry from the fruiting Autumn Olive bush that I pass on the way to the yew trees, which are near an entrance to the Oak Woodlands.
After enjoying the flavor I spit out the pulp and seed since I didn't know what it was. Turns out the yew's generic epithet, Taxus, has the same linguistic root as "toxic." The whole plant -- except for the red aril -- contains a poisonous alkaloid called taxine, which is toxic even to squirrels. Presumably they just eat the fleshy aril and leave the seed uneaten, thereby avoiding a potentially fatal heart attack.
It's a clever trick of nature to create the delicious outer aril around a poisonous seed. Some birds can safely consume the fruit for its tasty aril while letting the seed pass through their digestive systems intact, thereby aiding in seed dispersal. The trick for birds and mammals is to leave the seed coat intact to avoid being poisoned.
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| A sprig of European yew with the berry-like cone attached. |
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| Saw my first Townsend's warbler of the season, but this was the only photo I could get. Nothing like the nice views I got almost exactly one year ago. |
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| This was one of several Anna's hummingbirds stationed around the perimeter of the Fuchsia Dell, which has many plants in bloom right now. |
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| According to the Merlin app, this is a female Western tanager. With so little yellow coloration in her feathers, I'd never have guessed. |
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| A honeybee emerges from a flower at Lily Lake. |
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| Water Lilies in Bloom |
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| I liked the reflections on the water with this one. |
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| Probably a Four Spot Orb Weaver (Araneus quadratus) in an appropriate Halloween color. I like that it makes the sign (which is about not feeding wild animals) seem quite sinister. I'd hope the spider was going to work on its snare, but it found a warm spot on the sign and curled up to take a nap. |
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| This cabbage white butterfly flew in while I was watching the orb weaver. |
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| A few skippers were acting frisky, fluttering around each other and even prodding each other with their legs. |
Frisky Skippers
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