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

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

and one of the eight species of

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus '' Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew ('' Taxus ...

. The Mexican yew is a rare species, only known to be found in a small number of locations in eastern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

, 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 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-stub