''Taxus globosa'', the Mexican yew, is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

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 Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, 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 BarradasBarradas, 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. at Veracruz Institute of Technology (Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz).

References

globosa Trees of El Salvador Trees of Guatemala Trees of Hidalgo (state) Trees of Honduras Trees of Nuevo León Trees of Oaxaca Trees of San Luis Potosí Trees of Tamaulipas Trees of Veracruz Endangered plants Flora of the Central American pine–oak forests Flora of the Central American montane forests {{conifer-stub