"The wand of yew is reputed to endow its possessor with the power of life and death..."
-- Mr. Ollivander (Pm)
A wand wood (Pm).
- Yew wood has a "particularly dark and fearsome reputation" because of the connection duelling and dark charms, such as curses. However this wand is just as likely to choose a protective hero rather than all villains (Pm).
- Yew wands buried with their owners often sprout into trees that grow and shade their graves (Pm).
- Tom Riddle's wand which he bought at Mr. Ollivander's shop as a child was yew with a phoenix feather core, thirteen-and-a-half inches (PS5). The feathers for both Tom's and Harry Potter's wand cores came from Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet (GF36), making them "brother wands" which did not work well when near each other, and resulting in the rare effect of Priori Incantatum, or the Reverse-Spell Effect when they dueled in the graveyard at the Riddle House (GF34, GF36).
- After Voldemort took the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's Tomb, it is unknown what happened to the yew wand (DH24).
Commentary
Etymology
Old English iw, eow "yew,"
Notes
Yew trees represent eternal life not just because they are evergreen, but because they are extremely long-lived. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, is thought to be 2,000 -3,000 years old. Yews are basically protected forever from insect or animal damage because of poison found in the bark, twigs, leaves and fruit of the tree. Perhaps because of they are poisonous to humans and can bring death, yews have been planted around graveyards in England, Ireland, Scotland and all over Europe for thousands of years. source: Wikipedia
Harry's holly wand seems to represent life, while Voldemort's yew wand represents death.