Just for Yew

By Wes Porter —— Bio and Archives June 25, 2015

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On 19 June 1215, sheltered by a yew tree in meadow by the Thames River, King John delivered the Magna Carta on demand of the barons. The first document of the English constitution derives its name from Medieval Latin, literally Great Charter. It is sometimes referred to erroneously as ‘Magna Charta’ – and equally erroneously a being signed by King John. In fact, he sealed it.

The Ankerwycke yew of Runnymede that oversaw the liberties-defining event was ancient in 1215. It had lived more than 1,200 years and is still alive 800 years later. Last February, experts preserved the 2,000-year-old evergreen for eternity. Although commonly called English Yew, Taxus baccata, like the English Oak Quercus robusta, grows far and wide from Shakespeare’s scepter’d isle. It may be recognized across Europe as far east as Iran, down into North Africa. Slow growing to about 20 metres, traditionally used for making the famous longbow, and still used for bows today coupled with hickory (Corylus), the close-grained hard but elastic wood once also provided the wherewithal for fence posts, mallet heads, floor blocks, and panels. However, it is more appreciated now for its ornamental uses. There are numerous garden forms and has long been a favourite subject for topiary work. The world’s largest topiary garden at Levens Hall in Cumbria, northwest England, is home to over 100 carefully crafted T. baccata. Some hedges in England are far older: a 300-year-old yew hedge sits on Bath Estate in the Cotswolds, 40-feet tall and stretching for 150 yards. One of the world’s biggest hedges – all 16,000-yew plants of it – was plant at Longleat, Wiltshire to create a maze. Covering two square miles with 1.7 miles of pathway to confuse thousands of people every year. Clever visitors, however, use their smart phones to look at the maze from Google Earth. Alas, for gardeners in more vigorous climates T. baccata must surrender to T. cuspidata, Japanese yew, a more cold-tolerant species. It, too, grows to about 20 metres with several ornamental cultivars on offer. None of these, it should be warned, tolerate situations where they are exposed to strong winter winds. Not usually found in gardens is the Canada yew T. canadensis, a low straggling shrub that may make it to a metre high. All yews bear their male and female cones on separate plants, followed by attractive red berries, which technically are arils. While these are not poisonous, every other part is deadly in the extreme. Consumed they can cause death within minutes. This has long been acknowledged where Taxus are found. In his War Commentaries, Julius Caesar tells of how Catuvolcus, king of the Eburones, a tribe between Meuse and Rhine, failed in a plot against the Romans and so, weak with age poisoned himself by drinking the juice of a yew. The English yew has long been associated with church graveyards and for good reason: there they are likely to be protected from the attentions of cattle and children who other wise might succumb to the taxcine alkaloids. These are said to lead to gastroenteritis, heart and respiratory failure then sudden death within five minutes following some sort of convulsion. The Ankerwycke yew of Runnymede is a mere pipsqueak to the Ashbrittle Yew, which stands in the Church of St. John the Baptist’s churchyard in the Somerset village of that name. It has a girth of 38-feet and is believed to be 4,000 years old, ‘Britain’s oldest living thing,’ although may be on its last legs according to its custodian.