Yew trees

Yew trees live for very long times.  Some are know to be over a thousand years old, and many are hundreds of years old.

All trees can grow new shoots and branches which replace those damaged by wind.  Similarly all trees can grow new roots, but this still means that damage to the central trunk will be fatal.  Rotten, hollow, trunks mean that a tree is on its last legs.  Unless they are yew trees.

Yew trees, when they become rotten, grow branches which bend back down, through the rotten wood, and grow downwards until they burrow into the soil and become whole new rootstocks.  They can do this as often as needed.

They also express a toxin in all parts of them except their berries, which means almost nothing predates on yew trees.

This apparent 'eternal life' may have been responsible for the yew tree being venerated as a religious icon in western Europe.  Churches traditionally have yew trees in the grounds, and monks are known to have planted yews around their chapels, but recent research has demonstrated that in many cases, the church was built where the yew trees were already, possibly in a pre-Christian sacred grove.

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