Taxus baccata yew
Dark and brooding yews are incredibly long lived – one known as the Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is dated between 2,000 and 3,000 years old. Perhaps it is their longevity and the seeming permanence they have in the landscape, as well as their sombre nature, that has seen them associated with both death and immortality, and they are often found in churchyards. As they age their lower limbs take root and the original tree hollows out, so a really ancient tree can become a thicket, and then a ring. Yew timber is highly prized because of the contrast between the creamy white sap wood on the outside of the tree and red-brown twirling heartwood. Determinedly continuing its deathly theme, every part of the plant is toxic, except for the red flesh surrounding the (toxic) seeds. It is native and can be found naturally occurring on chalk in southeast England and limestone in the north and in shady oak woodland.
1 Bark
Thin bark is rich reddish brown in colour and scaly, and becomes deeply and characterfully ridged and furrowed with age. The tree often hollows out from the inside.
2 Needles
Broad, flat, dark green and relatively widely spaced, with a point. Usually arranged in two rows on either side of the stem, but on upright growth they will spiral around the stem.
3 Red fruits
Female trees produce bright-red fruits. The fleshy red aril, or seed covering, is the only part of the tree that is not toxic, although the seed within it is. Birds pass the seed undigested.
4 Silhouette
Dense, broad and low-growing trees with many low-lying branches that often touch the ground and can mean that some mature specimens make excellent climbing trees.