Shrub or sapling with a wide pyramidal crown and horizontal branches somewhat pendulous. Leaves dark green on the upper side and yellowish green on the underside, seeds covered mostly by a red, fleshy aril. Indifferent to the substrate, grows from 500 to 2000 m. in forests, ravines and wet slopes. Very toxic plant because it contains the alkaloid taxine, only absent in the fleshy envelope of the seed to enable its dispersal by birds. Difficult and slow germination.