Yew trees

The tree noticed at reference 1 has started a regular hare off, and I am now busily researching matters yew. With one mission being to find out why they live so long compared with most other trees and another being to find out why they do not usually form woods. The most important, of course, being to visit the wood at Kingley Vale.

First stop, Chamber's, where we get less than a column, slightly more than the nearby 'yoga'. But it did confirm that the tree was widely but sparingly distributed in the British Isles, forming woods in just Hampshire and West Sussex.

Second stop, reference 3, where the yew gets a chapter to itself, without, as far as I could see, illustration. An interesting compilation about the yew. It shares longevity with the olive. The best wood for the long bow came from the mountains of mainland Europe and no self-respecting English longbowman - at Agincourt for example - would be caught with a long bow grown at home. Various differing opinions about the toxicity of the leaves and the berries. The chapter closes with an ode to the yew, probably taken from reference 4, not available for inspection.

Third stop, reference 5. Not yet read, but it did point me to the web site reference 6. There are clearly plenty of yew nuts out there. I am not alone! It was also the source for the illustration, a yew in the church yard of St. Ffwyst in Monmouthshire, grid reference SO 28631322 (which neither bing nor google maps seem to understand), photograph Geoff Garlick, 2005. Sadly, blown down in a storm in 2012.

Once I have processed reference 5, the next stop will be Wisley to see if the library there (they are busily selling off a lot of their old stock to passers by) still has a copy of reference 7, which seems to be the standard work on the subject. Amazon has lots of ebooks and on-demand reprints, but that is unlikely to be the same as the original.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/old-tree.html.

Reference 2: Chamber's Encyclopaedia - George Newnes - 1959. Dedicated, by gracious permission, to HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.

Reference 3: Among the Trees - Richard St.Barbe Baker - 1935.

Reference 4: The Poetry Of Gardens: In Water-Colour And Verse - Aumonier, M. - 1944.

Reference 5: The exceptional yew trees of England, Scotland and Wales - Andy Moir, Toby Hindson, Tim Hills and Richard Haddlesey - 2013.

Reference 6: http://www.ancient-yew.org/.

Reference 7: The yew trees of Great Britain and Ireland - John Lowe - 1896.