The toxic nature of yew, the tree of the dead

With ages measured in millennia, a trio of evergreens – Scotland’s Fortingall yew, Wales’ Defynnog yew, and England’s Ankerwycke yew – are among the oldest trees in the UK. Each is Taxus baccata, a species with a designation seemingly at odds with its longevity – the tree of the dead. This menacing moniker seems to fit with where many old T. baccata trees are found in the UK – churchyards and graveyards – though a litany of myths, legends and cultural histories abound to explain the tree’s connection with the dead and the living. If struck down, T. baccata can ‘re-sprout and grow a renewing trunk or series of trunks’, making it a symbol of resurrection and eternal life. In the Christian church, T. baccata branches and sprigs substituted for palms on Palm Sunday in areas within this species’ natural geographical range.

The history and mythology surrounding T. baccata should see it featured in medicinal tomes from antiquity forward. Instead, one of the most influential works of early pharmacology penned in the first century CE – De Materia Medica by Dioscorides – ascribed it as having no medicinal value and warned against its use. Save the flesh of its berry-like seed coverings, all parts of T. baccata are poisonous.