CHFS is fortunate to have on its property an immigrant from the old world, an English Yew
The English Yew, or common yew (taxus baccata), is native to Britain, Europe and parts of Asia.
The yew is particularly long-lived, clocking in at 400-500 years and sometimes longer. There are yew trees in Great Britain believed to be over 2,000 years old– but at best, these are guesses, as the tree hollows with age, removing the possibility of ring-counts. The branches that bend and touch the ground may take root and sprout again as a new trunk. Between this and the yew’s remarkable ability to withstand breakages in bark cover, it is easy to see why the tree is associated with longevity.
Some British yews have become famous, meriting their own name. This includes a set of four that William Wordsworth wrote about, while referencing the storied history of the wood’s use in English and Welsh longbows. (The competitive trade for yew bowstaves through the middle ages is worthy of its own encyclopedia entry.)
There is a Yew-tree, pride of Lorton Vale,
–William Wordsworth, The Yew Trees
Which to this day stands single, in the midst
Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore:
Not loathe to furnish weapons for the Bands
Of Umfraville or Percy ere they marched
To Scotland’s heaths; or those that crossed the sea
And drew their sounding bows at Azincour,
Perhaps at earlier Crecy, or Poictiers.
Of vast circumference and gloom profound
This solitary Tree! -a living thing
Produced too slowly ever to decay;
Of form and aspect too magnificent
To be destroyed. But worthier still of note
Are those fraternal Four of Borrowdale,
Joined in one solemn and capacious grove;
Huge trunks! -and each particular trunk a growth
Of intertwisted fibres serpentine
Up-coiling, and inveteratley convolved, –
Nor uninformed with Fantasy, and looks
That threaten the profane; -a pillared shade,
Upon whose grassless floor of red-brown hue,
By sheddings from the pining umbrage tinged
Perennially -beneath whose sable roof
Of boughs, as if for festal purpose decked
With unrejoicing berries -ghostly Shapes
May meet at noontide: Fear and trembling Hope,
Silence and Foresight, Death the Skeleton
And Time the Shadow; there to celebrate,
As in a natural temple scattered o’er
With altars undisturbed of mossy stone,
United worship; or in mute repose
To lie, and listen to the mountain flood
Murmuring from Glaramara’s inmost caves.
Almost all parts of the plant are poisonous, including bark, leaves (needles), and the seeds of the berries, though the red flesh is edible. The plant gets even more toxic when dried, and is known to be dangerous even through the skin. Because of this toxicity, the yew is sometimes called the Tree of Death, and appears in cemeteries all over Europe, especially in the United Kingdom. It is also thought this practice is related to the plant’s remarkable longevity, as a sign of an enduring afterlife. (Though the more prosaic-minded might note that keeping a toxic plant in a cemetery would go a long way toward preventing local livestock from unwelcome browsing). Fortunately, the occasional inhabitants of our tree appear to co-exist harmoniously.
The yew is sacred in many early pre-Christian traditions. Recent scholars of the Norse tradition have suggested that Yggdrasil, the tree of life, is not actually ash but yew. Though the evidence is sparse, there is some literary value to the claim that yew was sacred to the Greek goddess Hecate. More common are claims about the role of yew in Celtic myths and legends. The tree appears in the Irish Ogham (as Iodha or Ioho), and is sacred in Druidic practices. In the Breton tradition, it is claimed that the roots of the yew reach into the mouths of the dead. Thomas the Rymer (a Scottish prophet) and Owan Langoch (a warrior-king) both await rebirth in places marked by yew trees. Tristan and Isolde were buried in graves that sprouted yew trees whose branches interwove permanently to reflect the everlasting quality of their love. Far beyond its outsize role in the economy of the living, for our European ancestors, the yew was a thriving component of many practices and legends surrounding the dead.
There is much more to be said about the yew– luthiers and musicians prized yew for medieval lutes! — yew bark extracts have been found to have cancer-fighting properties! — the oldest wooden implement yet discovered is a yew spear tip still preserved at up to 400,000 years old! — But we invite you to come and experience the stoic restfulness of this evergreen spirit for yourself.
