YEW: A HISTORY

by Fred Hageneder (Sutton Publishing, £20) reviewed by Mark Williams.
 
Available from Tree News Book Shop at £18, with Free P + P, see below

As its name suggests, this book is dedicated purely to one tree and it tackles the task admirably. It is written by a founder member and current chairman of Friends of the Trees, but by profession Hagender is an ethnobotanist. As a result he goes much further into the more obscure aspects of his subject than one might expect, probing into every aspect of their range, structure, reproduction, and longevity. He dwells lovingly on the tree’s toxicity, for example, explaining that apart from the bright red avil – flesh – of the berries, every part is poisonous to man and most animals. Then there are detailed drawings and macro photographs of the leaf structure and an examination of the puzzling phenomenon of ‘bleeding’ yews. 

This level of detail should not put off amateurs, however, for his love of the subject matter shines out of every page. The photographs are wonderful and endlessly fascinating, while the text bubbles along effortlessly. As a result, while it makes a wonderful ‘dipping’ book, many people will devour it cover-to-cover. 
After the technical chapters, Hagender explores the yew’s cultural and historical roles. The Tree of Life was, apparently, a yew – and as one of Britain’s three native conifers, it was the original Christmas tree until Prince Albert substituted the spruce.

Unfortunately this supremely long-lived tree has suffered badly at the hands of man. In 1966 its bark was discovered to contain powerful cancer-killing toxins and huge numbers were harvested, particularly in North America and India (the latter has lost 90% of its yews in little more than a generation). Before that, however, it was Britain’s mediaeval rulers’ insatiable desire for long bows that led to vast numbers being felled across Europe (Continental wood was regarded as superior to British). It is thus ironic that today while responsible for the absence of veteran trees across Europe, Britain has most of the world’s ancient yews, most of which (80 – 85%) are found in churchyards.  And if one needed a final reason to buy this wonderful tome, Hagender is donating 50% of the royalties to the Ancient Yew Group.