Tree of Protection

"It must have grown up silently, yet swiftly as a flag rises when you pull it up on a flagstaff, while they were all busied about the coronation. Its spreading branches seemed to cast a light rather than a shade, and silver apples peeped out like stars from under every leaf. But it was the smell which came from it, even more than the sight, that had made everyone draw in their breath. For a moment one could hardly think about anything else."

The Tree of Protection was a beautiful magical tree that bore silver apples. It was planted in the Lantern Waste by Digory Kirke, during the early days of the creation of Narnia; it was the direct offspring of the Tree of Youth.

Biography
After Jadis, the White Witch, fled to the north, Aslan bade Digory to go collect one of the Silver Apples from the Tree of Youth, and plant it in the river bank, where the ground was softest at the time, so that it could grow into a great tree, to protect Narnia from Jadis and her evil.

The Tree itself did not have the power to repel Jadis, but rather, she despised its fruit to such an extent (after having wrongfully eaten the same fruit from the Tree of Youth) that she could not be within a hundred miles of that Tree, or any other related one. Aslan himself described the smell of the fruit as "joy and life and health" to all good Narnians, but "death and horror and despair" to Jadis.

The Tree did as it was meant to, by protecting Narnia for up to nine hundred years, keeping Jadis out during all that time. Unfortunately, the Tree was eventually destroyed by some unknown cause. No mention is made of how it was destroyed, as some say it simply fell down during a great storm, while others believe Jadis herself was somehow able to dispose of it.

After the death of this tree, there were no more Silver Apples in Narnia, and without them Jadis was able to finally return, to conquer Narnia and impose the Long Winter (she started her Winter Age to prevent any further magical trees from being grown).