Scots pine is one of a series of blogs I’m writing on common British trees.  You can also see blogs on the Elder, the Yew, the Ash, the Oak, the Holly, the Sycamore, the Rowan, the Hawthorn, the Birch, the Lime, and the Beech.

The Scots pine is one of only three native UK conifers, along with the Yew and the Juniper.  It grows wild in heathland and in the Caledonian pine forests of the Scottish Highlands, although only 1% of these remain.  About 7000 years ago it was the commonest tree in Britain but suffered when the climate got wetter and warmer and then again when it was cleared for grazing.  Instantly recognizable, it is used for timber and provides a haven for birds, insects, and mammals.

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris tree

Identification: Tree shape

Scots pine grow to 35m tall and have a domed or flattened top and can live for 700 years.  They shed their lower branches as they grow, leaving distinctive broken limbs below the main crown.

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris tree growth progression

These trees grow in poor soils from sea level to 2,400m and were briefly extinct south of Scotland in the 1600s before being re-introduced to parkland and heaths.

Identification: Leaves

Scots pine have slightly twisted paired needles.  These are a grey green and grow to 10cm in young trees.  As the tree ages, the needles grow to shorter lengths, in the region of 3 to 7cm long.  They are evergreen, and linear.

Sprig of Scots pine

Identification: Flowers

The flowers of Scots pine are monoecious, meaning male and females are borne on the same tree.  The female flowers grow on higher more exposed branches where they can catch the male pollen, carried by wind.  They are reddish purple and grow on the tips on new shoots, looking like tiny pine cones.

Scots pine female flower (strobilus)

The male flowers are clusters of yellow pollen-producing anthers, growing at the base of the shoot.

Scots pine male flowers

Scots pine tend to flower in May, filling the air with clouds of pollen.

Identification: Fruit

The fruit of the Scots pine is a cone.  These develop from the fertilized female flowers and start off as green.  The cones take two years to mature and are 3 to 6cm long.  A Scots pine will bear cones of different ages simultaneously – young green ones and larger older grey ones.  Mature woody cones have a raised bump at the centre of each cone scale.  Within the cones are the seeds, and once mature the cone scales open to release the winged seeds.

Mature cone

Identification: Bark and buds

The bark of the Scots pine is reddish but becomes fissured and darkens to near black with age.  This explains why the tree looks like its tree trunk is two coloured, rusty red at the top and black at ground level.

Twigs are hairless and green, and the plant has sticky buds borne on the tips of yellowish twigs.

Similar species

There are other pines grown in Britain, many in forestry plantations rather than in the Caledonian forests or on heathland.  The bi colour of the bark makes the Scots pine distinctive.  The other native evergreens, the Yew and juniper, are very different from the Scots pine.  The former has glossy dark green needles and a flaky brown bark and the juniper has needle-like leaves and grows low to the ground.  They bear soft red and dark purple berries respectively, rather than woody cones.

Juniper Juniperus communis

History: Folklore

The Scots pine has been voted the national tree of Scotland and figures on coats of arms and clan motifs.  Clan chiefs would be buried under Scots pine trees and in the Norse countries, great warriors were buried on land in boats made from pine wood.

History: Mankind and Scots Pine wood

Scots pine were planted near isolated farms in the north as wind breaks, and stands of them were planted to help travellers with navigation on bleak moors and heaths.

The wood is a strong softwood and is used in the construction industry, and to make telegraph poles, gates, fenceposts and pit props in mines.  It has also been a source of charcoal.

Jackdaw on ancient Scots pine fence post

Rope can be made from the inner bark, tar derived from the roots, and a dye from the pine cones.  The cones were also dried and used for kindling.  Finally, turpentine can be made by tapping the tree for resin.

History: Food and Medicine

Although pine needles are edible, they are pretty tough and better used for flavouring.  Some evidence suggests that they can induce miscarriage, so shouldn’t be eaten by pregnant women.  They can flavour sugar, syrups and alcohol.  Steaming vegetables over water full of pine needles can give a piquant flavour, and they can be made into teas.

Cones and needles

Scots pine needles are rich in vitamin C and can be nibbled to quench thirst, or drunk in teas to fight asthma and fatigue.

There are unsubstantiated claims that pine pollen helps prevent aging.  Liniments of pine are used on sore joints, diluted pine oil can banish head-lice, and pine tar can help treat skin problems.  The scent of pine helps clear blocked noses and is good for respiratory problems.

Scots pine and Wildlife

In the Caledonian forests, rare birds like the Capercaille live along with Scottish wildcats and plants like the Lesser twayblade.  The forest floor is home to ants including the Scottish wood ant.

Worker ant Formica aquilonia Scottish wood ant

Red squirrels chase each other around their trunks and Pine martens chase the red squirrels.

Pine marten Martes martes

Flocks of Crossbill and small passerines feed there.  Golden eagles and Osprey nest in the crowns of the trees.  They provide vital shelter for so much wildlife, as seen in this blog from Loch of the Lowes.

Threats

Various diseases like Heterobasidion annosum affect the Scots pine causing root rot and butt rot. Pine stem rust, red-band needle blight, and needle cast disease also occur.  The trees suffer attacks from the pine wood nematode which causes pine wilt and Fusarium circinaum, a disease that leads to tree canker.  Some of these pathogens are recent arrivals and pose real threats to the trees, although the University of Nebraska suggests pine wilt can be prevented by injecting healthy trees with abamectin or emamectin benzoate.   For more on the threats to Scots pine, check out the article in The Guardian newspaper.

Canker (in this case on a rose not on a Scots pine)

A potential threat in future years is the Pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa whose range is expanding northward due to global warming.

They may also be defoliated by the Pine tree lappet moth Dendropinus pini.  Migrating north from the European mainland, a breeding colony was detected in Scotland in 2009 and containment regulations are in place to try and contain its spread (Scottish Forestry).

Conclusion

The Scots pine is an easy recognised native conifer.  Despite challenges facing the tree, mainly caused by invasive species moving northwards thanks to global warming, for now it is common on uplands, heathland, and in forestry.  Providing timber and protection for wildlife, it is to be hoped that it will continue to thrive for centuries to come.

Long-tailed, Blue, Coal and Great tit in a Scots pine

Online sources for this blog include websites of the Woodland trust, Kew Plants of the World , Trees for life,  Tree guide UK, and NatureSpot.  Reference books for this blog include the excellent The Greenwood Trees by Christina Hart-Davies and the Reader’s Digest The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain (out of print but commonly available second-hand).  I also referred to The Tree Forager by Adele Nozedar and The Living Wisdom of Trees by Fred Hageneder.

The post Trees: Scots pine Pinus sylvestris appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Plants have been on this planet for more than 500 million years, first appearing as red seaweeds and diversifying into the plethora of forms and species we share our planet with today.

FSC Guide to Ancient Woodland plants I illustrated showing a whole range of plants

Plant Evolution time line: Non-flowering plants

If we follow a time-line, we can have some idea of the course of plant evolution on earth.

Let’s start way way back, in the Ordovician, about 500 million years ago.  Nothing grew on land, but in the oceans algae, which we recognize as red seaweeds were growing.  Green plants evolved from these, and adapted into more algaes and plants we still have today, like the Charophytes.

Jump to 470 million years ago, the Silurian.  Plants have colonized land!  They still need water for reproduction, and can’t grow to enormous sizes, but the green takeover has begun.  In this time we see the emergence of Bryophytes: Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.

Grimmina pulvinata and Tortula muralis

The next enormous milestone in plant evolution is the development of vascular tissue.  Plants are now able to grow tall, creating forests.  Clubmosses (or Lycopods, they’re not mosses at all) now emerge in the fossil record, about 350 million years ago.  Lycopods now are small plants, but at their peak they could grow into trees up to 30m tall.

Vascular vs non vascular plants diagram showing cross section of the stem with vascular bundles

Ferns and Horsetails emerge next.  Enormous tree ferns change the land,  shading out the bryophytes.  Even today, tree ferns can be enormous, and back in the Carboniferous they could grow to gigantic sizes.  They still need water for spore dispersal, but are able to colonise drier habitats.

Plant Evolution time line: Seed producing plants

A massive change occurs; the seed evolves.  This is, as Chris Thorogood puts is, “a little plant within a box”.  Suddenly plants can live in dry environments.  They can live as dormant seeds for years.

Gymnosperms; the conifers, cycads, and ginko appear around 320 million years ago, in the Permian.  Their seeds aren’t enclosed in a fruit, but in cones.

Jack Pine Pinus banksia tree

Jump forward to the Triassic and Jurassic 280 million years ago, and the Cycads are in the ascendency.

Plant Evolution time line: Flowering plants

No-one knows quite when, but around 130 to 100 million years ago something extraordinary happens.  Flowering plants appear in the fossil record.  With tough seeds, flowers for pollinators, and the ability to exploit almost every habitat on earth; these take over.  These comprise Magnoliids, Paleoherbs, Monocots and Eudicots.  And they take over the planet, remaining dominant to this very day.

Plant evolution: Red algae

Red algae are marine seaweeds.  It’s a bit of a catch-all phrase and covers most of the red seaweeds, unicellar and multi-cellular organisms.  Brown seaweeds are a little different, and are thought to have evolved through endosymbiosis with red algae.  A common red algae is Dulse, which is also edible.

Dulse Palmaria palmata

Plant evolution: Green algae and Charophytes

On a microscopic level, tiny green algae can be stunning.  Many, like Desmids, are unicellular.  Take a look at this film of Volvox (some Volvox are unicellular whilst others live colonially) or photos of Pediastrum, a green algae living in colonies

Some green algae are larger, forming mats in ponds and pools.

Charophytes appear in this group, and are considered the oldest living relatives of land plants.  They pop up in the fossil record 500 million years ago and have remained unchanged until now.

Delicate Stonewort Chara virgata

Plant evolution: Bryophytes

Bryophytes are mosses, liverworts and hornworts.  I’m yet to illustrate a liverwort or a hornwort, but they can be really pretty, like green leathery cloaks across the ground.  They like moist environments, and often decorate cliffs by streams and waterfalls.

Mosses are subjects that I have been asked to illustrate.

Red bog moss Sphagnum capillifolium tuft

For many millions of years, land masses on planet earth were covered in moss, without any other plants in existence.  It is an almost impossible mental image.  Moss reproduce with spores, and need water to reproduce.  Spores appear in tiny capsules which are held above the blanket of moss below.  Bryophytes are haplodiploid, which means there’s an alternation of haploid and diploid generations, and like all the other early plants they have neither flowers nor seeds.

Common haircap moss Polytrichum commune

Plant evolution: Lycopods

Lycopods come to dominate after the mosses and liverworts.  They have vascular tissue so could grow high, into enormous tree-like structures.

The Club mosses we see today are far smaller, and can grow horizontally.  You might see them growing on moorland or heath, especially in Scotland.  For more the Stag’s horn clubmoss, one of our commonest Lycopods, click here.

Stags horn clubmoss Lycopodium clavatum

Plant evolution: Ferns & Angiopteris (Tree ferns)

Ferns are still much in evidence today, again, favouring moist habitats where their spores can fertilize aquatically, often in a thin film of water.  There’s an abundance of variety in the form of ferns, some having divided and sub-divided leaves, others with smooth complete fronds.

Harts tongue fern Asplenium scolopendrium

Tree ferns can grow to massive heights to this day, in the right undisturbed habitats.  There are enormous ones in the rain forests of Kalinga, Philippines.

Illustrating Bracken Pteridium aquilinum

Plant evolution: Horsetails

Horsetails are often referred to as “living fossils”, and they are indeed truly ancient.

They produce spores from a cone or strobilus.  Most prefer moist environments, and in the UK they rarely grown higher than about 1m tall.  In Mexico, some species reach over 8m!

Horsetails have a distinctive appearance, with bristles or leaves coming off a central ridged stem.  For more on horsetails click here.

Water horsetail Equisetum fluviatile

Plant evolution: Gymnosperms

Gymnosperms are the first plants to bear seeds.  This enabled a massive explosion in the places these colonising plants could grow.

They’re pollinated by wind, and seeds are borne in cones.  The seeds themselves are referred to as “naked” as they’re not enclosed in a fruit.  However, animals have evolved to exploit this rich food source – just consider the Red squirrel or the Crossbill.

Dwarf Pine subspecies cones

Conifers, Cycads, and the Ginko tree (yet another plant always called a “living fossil”) are all Gymnosperms.

Gingko Ginko biloba

Of course, the most enormous plants on earth are Gymnosperms; the Giant Redwood tree.  These heights owe everything to the earlier evolution of vascular tissue which put ferns, horsetails and eventually Gymnosperms head and shoulders above the competition.

Giant Redwood Sequoia sempevirnes

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants (Angiosperms)

Modern seed bearing plants are incredibly successful, clothing and dispersing their seeds in an astonishing variety of ways.  Many advertise their pollen to insects, birds and mammals with complex and glorious flowering structures.  Others rely on the wind.  There’s not enough room to even begin a comprehensive overview here, but I’ll touch on the four main groups of flowering plants.

Overview of a Eudicot flower

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants: Magnolias

Magnolia are considered one of the oldest flowering plants.  They’re truly ancient, dating back 95 million years.  Although they have petals and sepals, these aren’t clearly distinguished from each other.  They are pollinated by little beetles.

Magnolia grandiflora

One of the many magnificent facts about the Magnolia is the longevity of its’ seeds.  Remember how we referred to a seed as a “box with a plant inside”?  Well, magnolia seeds which fell from the tree thousands and thousands of years ago can be planted up, and will grow to a successful adult tree.  This blows my tiny mind.

Magnolia

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants: Paleoherbs

Paleoherbs are also known as Basal angiosperms and, like Magnolia, are very ancient.  This whole group was entirely new to me, and exists as many of the plants referred to as Paleoherbs share features of the eudicots and of the monocots.  Plants in this group include the Aristolochiales (Dutchman’s pipe), Piperales (Black Pepper, Wild ginger), and Nymphaeales (lotus and Waterlilies) For more on Paleoherbs, have a look at the introduction from Berkeley College, California.

White waterlily Nymphaea alba

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants: Monocots

And so we arrive, finally, at the true flowering plants.  These are divided into two main groups, the monocots and the eudicots.

Monocots tend to have parallel leaf veins, leaves often grow from the base of the plant, flowers are three-partite.  They grow from grains or bulbs.

Spring squill Scilla verna

Orchids, flowering blubs like tulip, Arums, iris, and my favourites the grasses, sedges and rushes are all monocots.  It’s worth remembering most of our food crops (rice, maize, wheat, barley, rye, oats) are also monocots.

Grasses: Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata, Deschampsia, Agrostis

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants: Eudicots

Eudicots mostly have leaves with a branching or netted vein pattern.  Their flowers have parts (eg, stamens, petals) in multiples of 4, 5, or 7.  Plants grow from a seed with two sides (think of a bean seed).

Some Eudictot families have heads with lots of flowers held together, in an inflorescence; not just one flower on the end of a stalk.  This is true of the Asteraceae, the daisy family.  Each of the outside “petals” is a ray floret, each tiny spot in the centre is a mini flower.  Take a look with a hand lens, it’s amazing.

African daisy Gerbera

75% of flowering plants are Eudicots, and they cover plants as diverse as the Cactus to the Lime tree, the Creeping thistle to the Potato, the Pomegranate tree to the daisy.

Prickly pear Opuntia ficus-indica

For more on the differences between Monocots and Eudicots, please check out my blog.

It’s the combination of that strong, safe seed; and co-opting animals or the wind to help pollination that’s led to this dominance.  Flowers are a by product that we get to enjoy, and to illustrate.  Fruit and nuts work for seed distribution, and feed us.  With these adaptations there are hardly any habitats on earth that the Eudicots can’t exploit.  They are indeed dominant.

Common Blue-sow thistle Cicerbita macrophylla

Conclusion

But I’m more in awe of the amazing variety and persistence of the plants that live on this planet.

From the unicellular green algae, still living in ponds and puddles as they did 400 million years ago.  To the Charophytes, unchanged and still growing in waterways.  The mosses which once blanketed the world and which still swaddle vast tracts of tundra and moorland.  Ferns, in all their beauty and variety remain massively successful – just look at Bracken on UK hillsides.  The strangely beautiful Lycopds and Horsetails.  Conifers and cycads, shedding cones as they have done for millenia.  Magnolia, enticing beetles with pollen all those millions of years ago.

Sphagnum magellicum

Please don’t disregard these plants, simply because they’ve not put their energies into growing pretty flowers to entice pollinators.  Instead, be awed by the majesty and history of the entire varied kingdom.  And perhaps we should all feel a little humbled by these temporal giants, too.

Enormous thanks are due to Chris Thorogood and to Julia Trickey – without Julia’s amazing series of talks I’d have never got to learn any of this fascinating information.  And without Chris and his extraordinary knowledge and ability to engage and enthuse, I wouldn’t have even known where to begin.

Euglena, a unicellular aquatic green algae

The post Plant Evolution: A brief overview appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

The Yew tree Taxus baccata is a common tree in Britain, especially in graveyards and hedgerows.

There’s a lot of folklore associated with this species, and it’s important both in modern medicine and for wildlife.

Identification: Tree shape

Yew trees grow up to 20m tall with a spread of up to 10m, and can form trees or shrubs.  Their shape is highly variable because of the growth habit of the tree.  In many cases, Yew loses the heartwood from the tree trunk as it ages, leaving a hollow tube full of powdery rotten wood.  These trees grow incredibly slowly and are notorious for being extremely long-lived.

This makes an excellent substrate for new yew trees to grow in.  New trees grow from exploratory rootlets sent out by of the established Yew.  It’s common to see a younger Yew growing inside the “nursery” of an older mother Yew tree trunk.  As a result of this, establishing exact ages of Yew trees can be really tricky as they rarely have the heartwood needed to count annual tree ring growth.

However, dendrologists have found yews 1,500 years old, and many believe it’s perfect possible that some trees can be up to 3,ooo years old.  Quite an amazing thought.

Yew tree Taxus baccata

Often found growing in churchyards, yew trees are also used as hedging plants.  They grows happily in the shadow of other trees, and  frequently appear in the understory of mixed woodland.  It is found planted in formal gardens.  They thrive on chalky soils and are resistant to pollution.

The association with churchyards is several-fold.  First, yews were used for weapons, so it was a good idea to have yew trees around.  But why the graveyard?  Well, yew is poisonous to grazing livestock as well as to man.  Having yew in a churchyard guaranteed people wouldn’t graze their flocks on consecrated ground, but still allowed the trees to be grown.

Identification: Leaves

The leaves of Yew are evergreen, so are found on the tree year round.  Yew leaves are flattened dark green needles, arranged along the branches and twigs in two rows, or spiralling.  Each one is 1 -3cm long.  They have a sharpened tip, and may look slightly shiny.  You can see a central rib on the leaves, which is especially clear on the underside.  The leaf underside is a pale greyish-green colour.  Needles are not arranged directly opposite one another.

Sprig of Yew showing dark green needles with paler undersides

Like all of this tree (except the red fleshy part of the fruit), Yew leaves are highly toxic.  As little as 50 – 100g of chopped yew leaves can kill an adult human .

Identification: Flowers

Yew trees are dioceious, meaning trees are male or female, each bearing male or female flowers.

You may not notice yew flowers as they are small and inconspicuous.  This is because they are wind pollinated, so have no need to expend energy of showy petals and nectar treats for possible pollinators.

The flowers are in the joins between the leaves and the stem. In males, the flowers are clustered together,  Female flowers are borne singly or in pairs.   Each flower is tiny, males as little as 3mm.  Pollen is released in February by all flowers, and berries appear in late summer.

Male flowers are round and green, with many stamens.

Sprig of yew with male flowers and a close up of the Male Yew flower. Detail below shows the froth of stamens

Female flowers are also greenish, although they become brown with age.  They’re scaly, although interestingly they are not cones.  This distinction is a conundrum for botanists as the yew is classed as a Conifer, which literally translates as “cone bearer”.  But no cones are produced by this tree.

Each female flower has a single ovule at the centre of these scales, awhich (once fertilized) will develop into a red fruit

Female Yew flower showing scales and emergent pistil

Identification: Fruit

The yew berry isn’t a true berry, but a seed that grows within an aril.  These “berries” are instantly recognizable.  They’re a pinkish red, matt, and fleshy.  Although this fleshy aril is the only part of the yew which isn’t highly toxic, I’d advise against eating it.  not least because the seed within is the MOST toxic part of the tree!

These are actually highly modified cones which grow around the seed.  you can see the lone seed peeping out from one end of the cup of the aril.

Berries are 3 – 7 mm long and become ripe from October, many staying on the tree through the winter.  Because of this, they’re a valuable winter food source for wildlife.

Yew berry showing seed at centre of the red aril

Identification: Bark

The bark of the Yew is scaly and a light red brown, or sometimes appears purplish.  Where it flakes off, it shows redder areas below. When wet, the bark can look almost blood red.

Branches and larger twigs are also a reddish brown, although the most recently grown needles are borne on yellow-green stems.  These become brown over time, normally in 3 to 4 years.

Another trait of the Yew that rather confuses its’ classification as a conifer is that is has no resin.  Pines, spruce, and Firs are all resinous, a fact you’ll know if you’ve ever got the sticky gum on your hands whilst collecting pine cones.

Similar species

The only species you might confuse with the Yew is other Yew species, such as the Irish yew.  This differs in having curved needles.  A range of species of yew are planted in gardens, but most in the wild will be the Common or European Yew Taxus baccata.

You can tell a yew from other conifers because of the purplish-brown bark, green young shoots, and (of course) the red berry-like structures.  Yew needles often appear a darker and glossier green than many other conifers.

History: Folklore

Yews are ubiquitous in folklore across geography and religions.  Ancient Greeks associated them with the dead, seeing them as gate keepers to the other side.  They believed if you fell asleep under a Yew you were likely to die (this was first mentioned by the physician Dioscorides in 77AD).

Pre-Christian religions held the Yew in high esteem as a tree symbolizing immortality, and groves of Yew were sacred sites long before Christians began building churches in Britain.  In fact, early Christians chose to build churches near sacred Yews and thus tapped into the spirituality and respect that already existed.

In 10th century Wales, the fine for chopping down a Yew tree was £1.  This becomes far more impressive when you realise that £1 was the equivalent of a life-time’s wages.

Yews figured in funeral arrangements.  Processions would carry yew branches, and throw them in the grave before lowering the coffin into the earth.  It was also used in graves of plague victims, although no-one seems sure why.  There’s a suggestion Yew may have been seen as a way to protect and purify the dead.

However, the Yew’s association with death was never fearful.  It knit closely to the way the tree seemed to live eternally, and with themes of resurrection and immortality.  These traits carried neatly from pagan to Christian religion, and the yew is associated both with Easter (Jesus’s resurrection) and with the virgin Mary (eternal goddess figure).

There is also some suggestion that the ancient Norse tree of life, Yggdrasil, may have been a Yew not an Ash.

History: Mankind and Yew wood

The sheer scale of time that has seen mankind associating with Yew trees is worth a mention.  This may be due to the spiritual properties associated with tree, but also relates to the incredibly tough wood the tree produces.

The oldest man-made artefact ever found is a spear made of yew-wood carved to a deadly sharp point.  This extraordinary item is dated at 420, 000 years old, thus pre-dating the evolution of modern Homo sapiens.  Just stop for a moment to take that date on board.  It blows my mind, not least because the wood was still perfectly recognizable when discovered. (For more, see The Clacton Spear).

The Clacton spear, made of Yew and dating back more than 420,000 years

Another remarkable discovery was a bow carried by Ötzi.  Ötzi is a mummified corpse found in the Tyrolean alps, between Austria and Italy.  He dates back 3,500 years and has been massively important in helping archeologists figure out how people lived (and died).  His bow was made of yew and was both strong and flexible.

History: Food and Medicine

Never eat Yew.  As mentioned before, it’s highly toxic.  And although the fleshy red aril is theoretically edible, even this has been known to cause vomiting.

However, in recent times, Paclitaxal (formerly Taxol), a compoud derived from the pacific Yew, has proved remarkably effective in the treatment of cancer.  It’s a component of chemotherapy treatment for lung, breast, ovarian cancer and Kaposi’s sarcoma.

Me doing a pencil drawing of a Yew sprig

In earlier times, people knew about the toxicity of yew and it was used as a suicide drug.  The chief of the Eburones, Cativolcus, chose to take yew rather than to yield to the Roman army, as did the Cantabrian and Astures armies (Redzet).  It’s the taxane alkaloids that prove so toxic, and yew poisoning results in breathlessness, fever, convulsions, and eventual heart attack.

Uses

Yew is a very slow growing and fine grained wood, with a rosy red colour.  It polishes beautifully and is waterproof, incredibly strong, and elastic.

The wood was used to make bows through history, like Otzi’s.  Bows used at the battle of Agincourt were Yew.  It’s also good for tool handles.

Waterproof qualities mean it was used for the pilings in Venice as it was resistant to rotting.  Recently, when old yew pilings were removed, they were in brilliant condition despite having been submerged for hundreds of years.  In many cases, they were sold on as usable reclaimed timber. (Hageneder).

Hedges can be made from yew as it grows thickly, forming good barriers.  Most mazes are made from yew (including the iconic Hampton Court palace maze), which will form a good wall in about seven years.

Yews and Wildlife

The sweet, glutinous berries of yew are much prized by members of the thrush family.  Blackbirds, fieldfare, thrushes as well as other birds like greenfinch glut on them in autumn.  The berries stay on the tree through winter, making this a valuable resource.

Small birds such as fire-crest and goldcrest make their nests in the thickets of yew hedges.  And small mammals like dormice and squirrels will also feast on the sweet berries.  (Please note that the dormouse pictured below is not eating yew.)

Hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius

Yew is the foodplant of the Satin beauty moth, Deileptenia ribeata.

Threats

Threats to the Yew tree are limited.  However, climate change may cause problems, and is is susceptible to root rot.  A while back, the Yew was over-harvested for Taxol medicines.  Thankfully this is now manufactured in the lab.

Conclusion

The Yew is an important tree in the landscape and in human experience.  Drenched in pre-history and spiritual associations, it also bears amazingly strong wood, and has helped with potentially life-saving cancer drugs.  It’s also unusual.  It’s a conifer but not quite a conifer.  It is somehow immortal because of its growth habit.  It’s highly toxic yet the source of life-saving medicines.  Associated with graveyards and funerals, it also symbolises resurrection.  It’s these peculiarities that make the Yew stand out, and earn it’s place as one of the most interesting of British trees.

Online sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Tree guide UK, Trees for life, and Naturespot.  Reference books for this blog include the excellent The Greenwood Trees by Christina Hart-Davies  , and the Reader’s Digest The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain (out of print but commonly available second-hand).  I also referred to The Tree Forager by Adele Nozedar and The Living Wisdom of Trees by Fred Hageneder.

I’ve published a film on youtube to accompany this blog.  It shows me drawing a pencil line illustration of a sprig on yew from a specimen, and was made in response to requests for films showing me drawing and composing an illustration, not just painting botanical subjects.

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