A preliminary study of the taxane chemistry and natural history of the Mexican yew, <em>Taxus globosa</em> Schltdl.

Abstract

This paper represents a preliminary study of the botany, natural history and taxane chemistry of the Mexican yew, Taxus globosa Schltdl. Taxonomic history, morphological comparison to other North American species and ecological habitat are discussed. Chemical study involved leaf and twig material from forty-nine plants from three localities in Mexico. Levels of taxol, cephalomannine and baccatin III were determined by HPLC analysis. Intrapopulational variation was found to be very high while mean taxane levels for each of the three populations were very similar. The average percentage of taxol in leaves of T. globosa is higher than in all other species of Taxus (0.0121% dry wt.).

Keywords

• Taxus globosa
• Mexican yew
• taxane composition
• taxonomy
• conservation
• economic botany