Naturwaldreservat Eibenwald bei Gößweinstein, Protected forest reserve in Gößweinstein, Germany

The Eibenwald Nature Reserve is a forest area on a shaded north-facing slope in the Wiesent valley north of Gößweinstein. It is a Waldmeister beech forest (Asperulo-Fagetum) whose main tree is the red beech, with sessile oak, sycamore maple and ash as secondary species. Its 4,100 European yews, five to twelve metres tall, grow among the beeches. The slopes average about 30° and are exposed from northwest to northeast; the lower and middle parts lie on Malm sponge limestone, the upper part on Frankendolomite.

The yew grove is one of the last fragments of the yew stands that once grew across central Europe as a companion tree to beech. From the early modern period, the shift from coppice and middle-forest management to high-forest planting, heavy felling for longbows and deliberate clearing in wood pastures pushed the yew back to a few refuges. The decline was described scientifically in the late 18th and 19th centuries as the "yew question". The reserve itself was first established in 1978; historical documents do not trace its earlier history.

The yew's flexibility made its wood sought after for longbows, and its seeds are toxic to horses, which grazed and worked these woods; both factors nearly wiped the species out. Since 1978 the 4,100 yews here have been protected, and forestry work is allowed only to keep them from being shaded out.

The area is accessible through marked hiking trails that guide visitors through different parts of the forest. Most routes are straightforward to follow, but good footwear and attention to uneven ground are important.

The reserve holds around 4,100 yew trees, the largest stand in Upper Franconia; the source notes that nowhere else do they grow in such numbers and in such near-natural stands. Some trees reach five to twelve metres. Look for the red arils instead of cones, and for the up to 30-metre rock faces nearby, including the Eibenwände and Martinswand.