Scottish Blog

The Fortingall Yew is an ancient yew tree in Scotland.

The Fortingall Yew tree is the oldest organism in all of the United Kingdom, some claim that the Fortingall Yew is also the oldest organism in the whole world. Estimates have placed the tree’s age between two thousand and five thousand years of age. The most likely estimates are on the conservative side of two thousand to three thousand years old.

Currently the Fortingall Yew is not an impressive sight. It consists of what looks to be a group of small trees growing close together, all of which are of an average height and girth. Although once one realizes that the group of trees is indeed one incredibly wide tree, the sight becomes more impressive. Due to immense number of tourists taking pieces of the tree as souvenirs the stature of the Fortingall Yew was reduced. This combined with the slow decay of some internal heartwood of the Fortingall Yew, which has brought some internal sections of the tree to ground level, leaves the tree looking less impressive than one would expect. As an indication of the size of the tree befoe its rot, the girth of the base was measured to be 16 meters in 1769, since then it would have grown. Current measurements are misleading as the trunk is not in one single piece.

Eventhough the tree might look to be unhealthy, experts agree that it is likely that the Fortingall Yew can survive for a number of centuries more, unless circumstances change.

For protection, the Fortingall Yew is surrounded by a small wall, although this does not impede viewing the tree.

Recently samples of the Fortingall Yew were taken to be replanted in various locations. The idea behind was that if the tree itself should be damaged, there would be “clones” of it growing in plantations.