In this time of climate change and the possibility of our extinction, while accepting the reasons why ancient yews should be protected for heritage reasons, people ask if they are important environmentally. The answer is an emphatic yes. As a species we were a late addition to the Earth, a bit of an after thought some 4 million years ago, when the yew had been here for 200 million, making the environment suitable for us. Sadly in the short time we’ve been here, we’ve seen off a lot of other species.
In common with other ancient trees, the fact is that the DNA of ancient yews is ‘purer’. In today’s world, so many living things that come within the sphere of humankind, are genetically modified and in times to come it may actually be important to be able to revert to original DNA that existed thousands of years ago which may carry properties we are unaware of, which are beneficial to life.
A little known fact is that yews give out more oxygen than most other trees! It was for this reason as well as the fact of their being a sacred tree, that in medieval times they were planted in churchyards where the air was putrid and a foetid, toxic atmosphere hung over such places. Richard Polwhele was writing about this in the 1790’s in his ‘History of Devonshire’. Bodies at that time were not routinely buried deep, as they are today and in some old churchyards, human bones are found just beneath the surface! It was considered prudent and practical therefore to plant more yews to clean the air and transmute the noxious fumes produced by rotting corpses, a job they did remarkably well. The yew purifies the air and produces oxygen all year round, while the broad leaves lose their leaves. We all know how urgent it is to plant more trees, particularly when places like the Amazon Rainforest that produces 20% of our oxygen, are being burnt and particularly in cities where fuel fumes are choking us. The ancient yews have been protecting our planet for thousands of years. It’s no wonder that many cultures across the world saw the yew as the Tree of Life.
As such, yews support many life forms, a theme celebrated in the art of traditional cultures such as that of India. The amount of fruit they produce is considerable and is an important food source for at least 18 species of birds. We too can eat the sweet berries or arils as long as we are extremely careful not to eat the poisonous nut inside. In fact mixed woodlands containing yews attract more birds than woods without them! Migrating birds who arrive in the autumn depend on yew berries for food into the winter months. Yews also support insects and fungi while ancient hollow yews provide homes for bees, a subject of legends amongst the early saints, while early Greek and Roman classical literature, saw bees as an associate of the yew.
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Ancient yew depicted here is at Church Preen in Shropshire.