Cherkley Court

In 1897 Lowe named several yews: The Queen 23′ round, the Cauliflower 16′ round, two trees together with a combined girth of 18′, a tree 15′, two others 20′. The yew shown here is the Cauliflower, with a girth of 5.72m at 1m on the bulge. Along with many other yews it was damaged in a heavy snowstorm in 1884. This yew grows in the open and has lost its regular shape seen in Victorian times. However its dense foliage is the giveaway to it being the Cauliflower. The bole bulges and many branches spread out above this to the ground to form a dense canopy under which you can still stand. There is no obvious hollowing in the tree and very little has been cut off. The tree grows on good rich chalky soil in open grassland.