The Fortingall Yew is a large yew tree found in the Scottish village of Fortingall, Perthshire, and is believed to be one of Britain's oldest trees coming in at an estimated age of 5000 years (though other estimates put it anywhere between 2000 and 9000 years). Either way, it has been a focus for local cults since at least the Iron Age, largely due to its natural abilities to ward off evil. Most typically in the form of disease; wood harvested from the tree has traditionally been used to make drinking vessels that, when filled with river water, would cure the drinker of all illnesses. The theory has never been tested for obvious reasons, but it is believed that the tree may hold the only known way of curing Cadaver animatum (See the previous True History of Britain entry for Hadrian's Wall).
(For legal reasons I must point out that Yew wood, along with most other parts of a yew tree, is highly toxic if not treated correctly. Eating or drinking from a yew wood cup or bowl is not recommended.)
In 2015 it was noted that the tree, typically male, had begun to produce berries, a trait of female yew trees. This is believed to be a result of the tree's lesser-noted ability to ward off social evils; in this case an unusually high source of bigotry coming from approximately 60 miles South-East of the tree. Whatever this sudden surge of blight was, the tree may have partially changed sex to counteract it. These berries are likely to have a strong magical effect of their own, possibly related to the gender changing abilities in some way.
(Again, you really shouldn't try it. The fruit itself is actually fine, but the seeds will wreck you. Anyway, the berries were taken for analysis and preservation so you can't get them.)
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