A spiritual tree (Yew)

Member Name: mumsymary

Product:	Yew
Date:	28/06/05 (3032 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great tree

Disadvantages: poisonous

Yew tree

The Common Yew - Taxus baccata, the Irish yew Taxus baccata Fastigiata' Family : Taxaceae There are several other species of Yew too.

One of the reasons why I an writing this review today is because I feel cheated at missing Glastonbury. Glastonbury for me has that (religious )Aura The name 'Glastonbury' means 'Green-tree-bury' and is derived from the Celtic 'glas' - meaning (ever) 'green' and 'tann' - meaning 'tree'. Exavations At the bottom of Glastonbury torr by the well l have found the stump and root of an Ancient Yew this tree must have been growing there around 300A D.

The yew tree can be found on many pagan sites it is a church tree, a place where people could go and be in the spiritual aura that surrounds the tree. religious meetings were held under the yew tree.
It is a sacred tree a gateway to the other world. A large old yew has a trunk with a big girth and all yews as they age have a hollow trunk. Around the old trunk which hollows out new trunks are formed by branches rotting themselves .
If you keep a yew stick by the back door it wards of all evil

When the Christian faith became established here churches would be built near the old yew tree church to try and get some recognition as the holy place. A sprig of Yew was often placed in a grave to help the dead person find the way to the other world. I know the churchyard in the village where I grew up has an old yew at the lych gates It certainly was old and had an aura around it.

Yew trees because of their longevity and their evergreen leaves are often used to way mark boundaries and paths. A yew in Buckinghamshire is the place where King John met with the Barons to sign the Magna carta in the year 12 15 .

Yew trees have mystic powers in keeping evil away, for guarding travellers a good luck emblem in many countries. I think there is a kind of magic in all trees. There are many folk laws tales relating to Yew trees. The tree of life with magical mystic properties

"Gall of goats and slips of yew,
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse"
These are the words the third witch says as she makes her potion in the cauldron taken from Shakespeares Macbeth (I was one of the witches in the school play)

Yew is a native English tree. The Yew tree is a conifer. This tree grows slowly but is a tree with a very long life.
The yew grows very well on chalk soil but will grow on other soil too. The yew grows to about 25 metres tall.
There is a yew tree in Fortingall Perthshire, Scotland it is estimated as being between 3,000 and 5,000 years old.
Yew trees can be propagated through cuttings, seed, graftings or layering. They grow well in a sandy loam or chalk but not in soggy wet clay soils. If they are clipped they make a good thick hedge.
The yew tree has dark green needle leaves and small single green female flowersand male flowers that are a small yellow ball of stamens. The yew tree flowers have lots of pollen that blows about in a yellow dust .The yew tree has small cones and red berries. Birds love to eat the fleshy part of the berries spiting the stone/pip out as that is very toxic .
Yew is a very poisonous tree. All except for the fleshy part of the red berries Arrow tips used to be dipped in a yew poison and the wood was one of the best used to make long bows. You will not find Yew trees in fields where cattle are kept because of the poison animals browsing on its leaves will die.
As with all poisons used in the correct dose and form can be a medicine. Recently Taxol has beenextracted from yew bark this helps fight cancer

Yew wood can be used to make furniture it is a hard wood. While looking on the web I found www.theyewtreefurniture.com This site displays furniture , bowls , that are made in east sussex . do have a look there are some lovely items here.


The magestic yew tree is one of the great trees of Britain our countryside would be barren with out them. Thank you for reading my review about the Y

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