Hello and welcome to part two of the On the Ledge podcast, Atlas of Deadly Plants, series of minisodes out just in the run-up to

Halloween, just to get you in the spooky mood.

And in this amuse, boosh, of an episode, I'm going to talk to you a little bit about

Taxus Bacarta, aka the European

U, a tree that we associate very much with cemeteries and churchyards. We're going to find out why.

First, a little reminder, if you want to listen to this book it's now up on my patreon so go and have a look

you can buy it there and if you are a legend or a super fan you can go and listen to all 50 plants

it's going up on spotify and audible in the next few days, fingers crossed.

Unfortunately, I don't yet have the rights to use the cover.

So it's got a temporary cover on there.

But if you search for my name in the next few days, it should pop up.

And if you want to buy a copy of the print version, then it should be available in all

your local bookshops, as well as the usual online outlets. So let's get cracking on with talking

about a poisonous tree, the European U. I start the chapter on you talking about an ancient wooden spear,

dating back to about 420,000 years ago,

that was discovered back in 1911,

in Clacton-Sea, well-known seaside resort in Essex in England.

And this is considered by some to be one of the oldest wooden artefacts in the world.

So already back in Paleolithic times, we were using you as a weapon material. And that's important because this is not an association that goes

away. If you are a student of Shakespeare and you've read the play Richard the second,

you is described as double fatal in Richard the second. Why? Well, because at the time, it was well known

that you, as well as being a poison, was also a word that was vital because it was the raw material

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