A definitive guide to the sacred place trees hold for cultures around the world, exploring the natural history, folklore and symbolism that give each genus of tree its unique character and fascination.Throughout time, trees have stood as sentinels, wise yet silent, patiently accumulating their rings while the storms of history have raged around them. Trees and humankind have always had a symbiotic relationship. Throughout the centuries trees have offered us shelter...

Europe’s most ancient species of tree, the yew has many unique characteristics: it is a ‘conifer’ without resin or cones, and though it has an extraordinarily low rate of photosynthesis, it can grow where other plants wither and die. It was in the Palaeolithic Era that humans were first struck by the yew’s regenerative powers and began to associate it with concepts of life, death, the afterlife and eternity. Yew trees can be found at the sacred sites of Native Americans and Buddhists, and S...