I am sitting in my office looking at what looks like smoke coming from the very large yew tree in my garden. I know its not on fire and I have noticed this phenomenon before, possibly an annual event. Is it dispersing seed? It does look just like wafts of smoke.
Hi Sarah,
It will probably be pollen. When its in full flower and you shake the branches huge clouds of pollen (from the male flowers) can be released which look a lot like smoke! It looks pretty amazing and there are quite a lot of conifer species which do this...
The seeds are a fair bit bigger and encased in those fantastic red berries that the tree will produce later in the year.
Cheers,
Truffle
aha of course, pollen. yes, that would make a lot more sense. it really does look strange as my yew tree is huge. thanks trufffle.