Brix

Wim Peeters: The tree consists of a stem with many small branches, making measurement difficult. At 1m are several branches, the lower of which have an open appearance with low needle density. The ascending hollow stem splits at 3m into several upward branches. Ivy has been allowed to grow into the crown. In the past several ascending branches with a diameter up to 30 cm have been cut. A plate by the tree warns about its poisonous berries (arils), but not a single one was seen on this August trip, a time when a female yew is usually covered in the red fleshy fruits. The local Council of Architecture, Planning and Environment (CAUE de la Manche) gave it a girth of 8.40 m on the 19th September 2009. In the 1894 Bulletin de la Societe Linneennne de Normandie p 97 – 99 is the following: In the cemetery of Brix, (10km south of Cherbourg) is a yew, of which the stem, 1 metre above the soil, measures 5,15 m of girth of which the top, reaching to the church roof, shades a circle of 16 a 17 m diameter. At 1,50 m above the soil, the stem splits in three large branches. Deeply embedded in the bark, are pebbles that were perhaps launched by children centuries ago! Altitude above sea level is about 145 metres and the rock type is quartz sandstone.