Ancient Sentinels - Misha Teasdale

Yellowwood

Podocarpus latifolius

From outer space, the Earth looks blue and green. But if we focus on Africa, astride the planet’s equator and extending into both northern and southern temperate zones, we start seeing more colours. Not all is blue and green in this world.

As we zoom in on the southern tip of this continent, we see an ever more varied landscape: the Cape Floristic region, an area of extraordinarily high natural diversity. Here we find the great forests of this corner of the planet – and at the very top of the canopy, the yellowwoods. Growing to heights of 35 metres, these giants can live for 2000 years. They’re part of the ancient line of Gymnosperms, which include cycads, cypresses and other conifers, a group of plants that inhabited the Earth before primitive flowers had even evolved.

‘When you enter a grove peopled with ancient trees, higher than the ordinary, and shutting out the sky with their thickly inter-twined branches, do not the stately shadows of the wood, the stillness of the place then strike you with the presence of a deity?’ – Seneca the Elder