<a href="http://strangeattractor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/fortingall_yew.jpg" title="fortingall_yew.jpg"><img src="http://strangeattractor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/fortingall_yew.jpg" title="fortingall_yew.jpg" alt="fortingall_yew.jpg" align="top" border="0" hspace="8" vspace="8" /></a>

<font size="2"><em>What is conceivably Europe's oldest living thing is looking a bit green around the edges.</em> </font>

<font size="2">But that is a good thing, and much to the relief of those charged with its care. </font>

<font size="2">Because when the Fortingall Yew in Scotland produces young, fresh leaves, it means it's adding another year to the thousands it has already been on this earth. </font>

<font size="2">About 5,000, to be precise. A sapling when Stonehenge was created, 3,000 years old when the Romans came to Britain, a survivor from Pyramids to iPod. </font>

<font size="2">The public is being asked to help the Woodland Trust charity create a map of the UK's ancient woodlands. </font>

<font size="2">"We are aware that it's a great responsibility" says Dr Gordon Stark, the session clerk at Fortingall Kirk. </font>

<font size="2">"There's a very large bit of the circumference missing. It once stood 56ft in diameter, but souvenir hunters and young men who used to hold bonfires inside the hollow tree have all taken their toll. </font>

<font size="2">"It's now got only a few bits left, but they are still alive and sprouting"</font>

<em>From the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6247774.stm" target="_blank">BBC</a>. More on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortingall_Yew" target="_blank">the yew.</a></em>

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<em><strong>NB:</strong> But not the world's biggest, that's probably<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81rbol_del_Tule" target="_blank"> El Arbol of El Tule</a>, Oaxaca, Mexico.</em>