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Fiona Stafford explores the symbolism and importance of the ancient tree, the Yew. Some yews witnessed the Romans in Britain. Yet today these ancient trees have the most modern of uses - as part of the fight against cancer.

This is the first of five essays about Britain's tree varieties and their history as part of the landscape - a subject which has taken on a new urgency with the announcement that Ash Dieback disease has entered the country with a potentially devastating effect. Professor Stafford's other essays examine the story of the Ash itself, Oak, Willow and Sycamore.

The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Europe's oldest tree at over 3,000 years old, was already a veteran when the Romans arrived. Often ancient yews predate the churchyards where they stand, because they marked ancient, sacred sites on which the relatively new religion could be built. Though often planted in churchyards because their leaves might be toxic to grazing livestock, the tree itself has long associations with death and immortality. The astonishing longevity of the yew and its evergreen branches suggests comforting thoughts of everlasting life to mourners in churchyards, while the dark, dense boughs offer privacy and stillness. Although the fruit is sweet and relished by birds, the seed inside is highly poisonous to humans, yet there is great hope that taxol, a compound found in the yew's reddish bark, can be developed into a powerful cancer-fighting drug.

Producer: Turan Ali.