Taxus bacatta

also known as Yew, English Yew or European Yew is one of the oldest plants in existence. It is difficult to date because Yew hollows inside the boughs over hundreds of years, and so does not have the usual internal bark rings which are counted to check the age of most other trees. However some English Yew can reliably be traced back to the 10th Century and is the longest-living plant in Europe. One reason for the longevity of yew plants is that this plant is fairly disease resistant.
Another reason I believe is that Yews are so easily maintained, adaptable and so have lasted the test of time (and fashions).

Yew plants have been used for centuries as hedging or topiary. It is so easy to prune and in its highly clipped topiarised form any shape can be produced including cloud trees, lollipops, spirals and so on.