Yew wouldn't believe it.

I trimmed the yew hedge this weekend. Aside from being a shade-loving evergreen, the yew is a fascinating plant.

Most parts of the plant are toxic. Between 50 and 100 grams will kill a person.
Reportedly, there are yew trees that lived to be over 5000 years old. The Fortingall Yew is commonly believed to be the oldest one in Great Britain, with an estimated age between 2000 and 4000 years old, growing in a Scottish church yard.
In France, the oldest yew trees are almost all located in church yards of Normandy and a chapel was very often laid out in the hollow trunk.
Yew wood is reddish brown (with whiter sapwood), and is very springy. It was traditionally used to make bows, especially the longbow. Ötzi, the mummified iceman found in the Italian alps, carried an unfinished longbow made of yew wood.