Problem of yew Taxus baccata L. wood toxicity. Xylological studies of medieval everyday objects from Poland

Abstract

Information on the toxicity of English yew (Taxus baccata L.) is often cited in the literature. However, the large number of everyday objects made from yew, discovered at medieval archaeological sites in Poland, dated from the 9th to the 15th century CE, suggest negligible harmfulness of its wood.The main objective of our research was to determine whether yew wood has toxic properties and its use as a raw material for making utensils may have had harmful effects on human health in the past.As a result of the research, a functional profile of medieval yew objects was developed, taking into account their use, including when and how they came into contact with the human body. Using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, the relative content of cardiotoxic taxine and isotaxine B in yew wood was determined.Xylological data showed that in the Middle Ages, yew wood was mainly used for food storage vessels, spoons and small tools that could come into prolonged contact with the skin of the hands. Chromatographic analyses showed that taxine B/isotaxine B was completely absent in wood from yew tree trunks from Poland.The synthesis of the two data sources confirmed the centuries-old, practical knowledge of the population about the lack of toxicity of everyday yew objects.