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Taxus somethingorother

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swotavator:
Hey all.  I live in NJ, and since I have made a bow or two, I've kept my eye out for local bow woods (i.e. I see an osage every once and a while, and lots of black locust).  So apparently, at some point in the past, yew was a popular landscaping choice in my area.  My guess is "taxus densiformis" based on looking at landscaping sites.  I see them everywhere, and they always look like you, but are always a dense, round bush, rarely higher than chest.

Well imagine my surprise when I see, around the corner from my house, this beast: http://i.imgur.com/qirUDJE.jpg
I am not a botanist, so not really sure what species of yew it is.  All i can tell you is:
-it is undoubtedly yew
-its huge - 40 feet?
-it has quite a few straight sections at least 8-10 inches in diameter.
-there is a place where a branch was cut, and it definitely has the heartwood/sapwood look, with a pretty tight ring count

Now I don't have designs on this specific tree (unless it gets struck by lightning), but I was surprised to find such a large one in an area I expected none.  Here are my questions:
-would this be an untended densiformis, or is there a chance it is another species?
-has anyone made a bow out of densiformis?

Lucasade:
According to t'internet taxus densiformis is formally known as taxus x media 'densiformis' and is a hybrid of taxus baccata and taxus cuspidata, so maybe it's a cuspidata, which is also known as spreading yew so would fit the photo.

Not a clue what sort of bow it would make  :)

wizardgoat:
I've seen bows made from landscape varieties of yew, it will make a bow for sure.
Best way to find out is go cut a branch! Cheers

willie:
I have found some yew trees that were much older than the time period that utilized the hybrids you mention, and suspect that yew has been a popular transplant for a very long time on the east coast.

the english started settling the east coast in the early 1600's, and some interesting things can be seen in the older towns.

swotavator:
That makes a lot of sense.  This is a 120 year old house at least.

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