YEW
The twigs and fruit of Taxus baccata act as irritant poisons, producing also symptoms which point to cerebro-spinal mischief. A case is recorded of poisoning by yew leaves, in which only five grains of the leaves were found in the stomach; yet death took place within an hour from the time the symptoms commenced (British Medical Journal, 1876, vol. ii. p. 392). In the above-mentioned case, vomiting and other signs of gastric irritation were absent. The chief symptoms present were—pallor of the face, faintness, an almost imperceptible pulse, facial convulsions, foaming at the mouth, stertorous breathing, loss of consciousness, ending in death. The symptoms are due to an alkaloid toxin. Several children have died after eating the fruit. Post-mortem signs of irritation of the alimentary canal.