: Caesar's Tree) is a very old tree whose precise age is unknown but is believed to be over 2000 years in age. The ancient tree grows in Lo

Lo

Lo is a town in Lo-Reninge, a municipality of Belgium. It is notable as the location of Caesarsboom, an ancient European Yew designated a national monument of Belgium....

, a town in Lo-Reninge

Lo-Reninge

Lo-Reninge is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Lo, Noordschote, Pollinkhove and Reninge. On January 1, 2006 Lo-Reninge had a total population of 3,306...

, a municipality of the West Flanders region of Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. Its species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 is Taxus baccata

Taxus baccata

Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...

, common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

 European Yew. The tree is designated a national monument

Monument

A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...

 of Belgium.

According to a long-held local legend

Legend

A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...

, Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

 stopped at this tree during his military campaign

Military campaign

In the military sciences, the term military campaign applies to large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war...

 in the area en route to Britannia

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

in 55 BC, tied his horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 to it, and took a nap in the shadow of its foliage. According to one source, although the road passing by the tree might date from the era of Imperial Rome

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, it is not likely that Julius Caesar came to this area.

The tree grows beside the last extant city gate

Gate

A gate is a point of entry to a space enclosed by walls, or a moderately sized opening in a fence. Gates may prevent or control entry or exit, or they may be merely decorative. Other terms for gate include yett and port...

, of four medieval  arches built in the 14th century (and restored both in 1852 and 1991); at the time the town was less than 400 meters in diameter. Caesarsboom stands adjacent to a house called "Het Damberd" ("The Draught-board House") which written sources from 1499 show once housed the oldest of the four breweries which used to exist in the town of Lo.

Although the trunk is partially hollow and some of its branches are supported with iron pins, the tree is apparently still growing and has even increased in size over the last century.