Greek kephale - head, taxus - referring to the shape of the staminate flowers.
Yew-like trees or shrubs. Branches opposite or in whorls. Winter buds ovoid and blunt. Shoots with leaf bases extending down the stem. Bud scales narrow and pointed. Leaves linear to slightly sickle-shaped, spirally arranged and spreading on main ascending shoots, two-ranked on the laterals, hardly stalked, two grey-waxy bands below and a prominent midrib above. Male and female plants usually separate. Fruits with almond-shaped seeds.
6 species from E Asia and Himalaya to Japan, Thailand and Malaysia.
Differs vegetatively from Taxus in having leaves mostly more than 2.5 cm long that are generally paler below and with tapered not rounded tips, and from similar podocarps by having pronounced annual growth increments with persistent narrow, pointed scales and smaller leaves at each growth joint.
Cephalotaxus sinensis (Rehder & E.H. Wilson) H.L. Li (syn. C. harringtonia var. sinensis (Rehder & E.H. Wilson) Rehder) with long, pointed leaves is occasionally available from specialist nurseries.
Source: (1995). Cephalotaxaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.