Taxus globosa | |
---|---|
Conservation status | |
Endangered (IUCN 3.1) | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Gymnospermae |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Cupressales |
Family: | Taxaceae |
Genus: | Taxus |
Species: | T. globosa |
Binomial name | |
Taxus globosa Schltdl. |
Taxus globosa, the Mexican yew, is an evergreen shrub and one of the eight species of yew. The Mexican yew is a rare species, only known to be found in a small number of locations in eastern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and is listed as an endangered species. The Mexican yew is a shrub that grows to an average height of 4.6m. It has large, sharp light green needles growing in ranks on either side of its branches.
There are several projects in order to produce Paclitaxel (an anti-tumor agent) around the world, but Mexican yew has not been as well studied because its low production of Taxol (Bringi et al., 1995) by in vitro plant cell cultures. Few researchers focus their work on this species, the team leader on Taxus globosa S. is perhaps that of Barradas at Veracruz Institute of Technology (Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz).
References
- Thomas, P. (2013). "Taxus globosa". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013. IUCN: e.T30724A2795235. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T30724A2795235.en. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
- Taxus globosa, Schlectendahl, 1838, found here retrieved on March 10, 2007
- Bringi V, Prakash G. K., Prince C. L., Schubmehl B. F., Kane E. J., Roach B.. 1995. “Enhanced production of taxol and taxanes by cell cultures of taxus species”. Patent number (USA): 5407816, Assigned to: Phyton Catalytic Inc.
- Barradas, D. D. Ma., Hayward, J. P. M., Mata, R. M., Palmeros, S. B., Platas, B. O. B. J., Velázquez, T. R. F.. (2010). Taxus globosa S. cell lines: Initiation, selection and characterization in terms of growth, and of baccatin III and paclitaxel production. Biocell, 34 (1), 1-6.
Taxon identifiers | |
---|---|
Taxus globosa |
|
This conifer-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
- IUCN Red List endangered species
- Taxus
- Trees of El Salvador
- Trees of Guatemala
- Trees of Northern America
- Trees of Honduras
- Endangered plants
- Flora of the Central American pine–oak forests
- Flora of the Central American montane forests
- Cloud forest flora of Mexico
- Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental
- Flora of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca
- Flora of the Chiapas Highlands
- Conifer stubs