Taxus

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Taxus

Taxus is a genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of yews, small coniferous

Pinophyta

The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxon within the Plant. They are Conifer cone-bearing seed plants with Vascular plant tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs....
tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s or shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s in the yew family Taxaceae

Taxaceae

The family Taxaceae, commonly called the yew family, includes three genera and about 7 to 12 species of coniferous plants, or in other interpretations , six genera and about 30 species....
. They are relatively slow growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m. They have reddish bark

BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
, lanceolate, flat, dark-green leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
1-4 cm long and 2-3 mm broad, arranged spirally on the stem, but with the leaf bases twisted to align the leaves in two flat rows either side of the stem.

The seed cones

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the plant sexuality structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds....
are highly modified, each cone containing a single seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
4-7 mm long partly surrounded by a modified scale which develops into a soft, bright red berry

Berry

In everyday English, a berry is a broad term for any small edible fruit. Most berries are juicy, round or semi-oblong, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, and don't have a stone or pit....
-like structure called an aril

Aril

An aril is any specialized outgrowth from the funiculus that covers or is attached to the seed. It is sometimes applied to any appendage or thickening of the seed coat in flowering plants, such as the edible parts of the mangosteen and pomegranate fruit, or the mace of the nutmeg seed....
, 8-15 mm long and wide and open at the end.

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Encyclopedia

Taxus is a genus

Genus

Pinophyta

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s or shrub

Shrub

Taxaceae

BARK

Leaf

The seed cones

Conifer cone

Seed

Berry

Aril

Thrush (bird)

The Thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly but not exclusively in the Old World....
, waxwing

Waxwing

The waxwings form the genus Bombycilla of perching bird birds. According to most authorities, this is the only genus placed in the family Bombycillidae....
s and other bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s, which disperse the hard seeds undamaged in their droppings; maturation of the arils is spread over 2-3 months, increasing the chances of successful seed dispersal. The male cones are globose, 3-6 mm diameter, and shed their pollen

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of Gametophyte , which produce the male gametes of spermatophyta. A hard coat covering the pollen grain protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower....
in early spring. Yews are mostly dioecious

Plant sexuality

Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes Morphology aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
, or change sex with time.

All of the yews are very closely related to each other, and some botanists treat them all as subspecies or varieties of just one widespread species; under this treatment, the species name used is Taxus baccata, the first yew described scientifically.

The most distinct is the Sumatran Yew (T. sumatrana, native from Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
and Celebes

Celebes

Celebes may refer to:*Sulawesi, an island in Indonesia, formerly known as Celebes.*The Elephant Celebes, a 1921 Surrealist work by Max Ernst....
north to southernmost China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
), distinguished by its sparse, sickle-shaped yellow-green leaves. The Mexican Yew (T. globosa, native to eastern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
south to Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a democratic republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras ....
) is also relatively distinct with foliage intermediate between Sumatran Yew and the other species. The Florida Yew, Mexican Yew and Pacific Yew are all rare species listed as threatened or endangered.

All species of yew contain highly poison

Poison

In the context of biology, poisons are Chemical substance that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ous alkaloid

Alkaloid

Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds containing base nitrogen atoms. The name derives from the word alkaline and was used to describe any nitrogen-containing base....
s known as taxane

Taxane

The taxanes are diterpenes produced by the plants of the genus Taxus . As their name suggests, they were first derived from natural sources, but some have been synthesized artificially....
s, with some variation in the exact formula of the alkaloid between the species. All parts of the tree except the arils contain the alkaloid. The arils are edible and sweet, but the seed is dangerously poison

Poison

Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
stomach can break down the seed coat and release the taxanes into the body. This can have fatal results if yew 'berries' are eaten without removing the seeds first. Grazing animals, particularly cattle

Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
and horse

Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
s, are also sometimes found dead near yew trees after eating the leaves, though deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae . A number of broadly similar animals from related families within the order even-toed ungulate are often also called deer....
are able to break down the poisons and will eat yew foliage freely. In the wild, deer browsing of yews is often so extensive that wild yew trees are commonly restricted to cliffs and other steep slopes inaccessible to deer. The foliage is also eaten by the larva

Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
n insect

Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s including Willow Beauty

Willow Beauty

The Willow Beauty is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is a common species of Europe, the Near East and North Africa.The wings of this species are whitish, heavily speckled with brown or black dots, giving it a buff or grey appearance, and marked with dark fascia....
.

Uses and traditions

Yew wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
is reddish brown (with whiter sapwood), and is very springy. It was traditionally used to make bows

Bow (weapon)

A bow is a weapon that projects arrows powered by the elasticity of the bow. Essentially, it is a form of Spring . As the bow is drawn, energy is stored in the limbs of the bow and transformed into rapid motion when the string is released, with the string transferring this force to the arrow....
, especially the longbow

Longbow

A longbow is a type of bow that is tall , is not significantly recurve bow and has relatively narrow limbs, that are circular or D-shaped in cross section....
. Ötzi, the Chalcolithic mummy

Mummy

A mummy is a corpse whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness, very high humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs....
found in 1991 in the Austrian alps, carried an unfinished longbow made of yew wood. Consequently, it is not surprising that, in Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
, the god of the bow, Ullr

Ullr

In Germanic paganism, Ullr appears to have been a major god in prehistoric times, or even an epitheton of the head of the Proto-Germanic pantheon....
's abode had the name Ydalir

Ydalir

File:Uller by W. Heine.jpgIn Norse mythology, ?dalir is a location containing a dwelling owned by the god Ullr. ?dalir is solely attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources....
(Yew dales). Most longbow wood used in northern Europe was imported from Iberia

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France....
, where climatic conditions are better for growing the knot-free yew wood required. The Eihwaz

Eihwaz

Eiwaz or Eihaz was a Proto-Germanic language word for "Taxus baccata", and the reconstructed name of the rune .The rune survives in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc as Eoh "yew" ....
rune ? is named after the yew, and sometimes also associated with the "evergreen" World tree

World tree

The World Tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the earth, and, through its roots, the underground....
, Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil

File:The Ash Yggdrasil by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine.jpgIn Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the world tree. Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson....
.

Yews are widely used in landscaping and ornamental horticulture

Horticulture

'Horticulture' is the industry and science of plant cultivation. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, Crop , plant breeding and genetic engineering, plant biochemistry, and plant physiology....
. Over 400 cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s of yews have been named, the vast majority of these being derived from Taxus baccata (European Yew) or Taxus cuspidata (Japanese Yew). The hybrid between these two species is (Taxus x media). A popular fastigiate selection of the European Yew (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata') is often called the Irish Yew, which often complements the fact of the difficulties with common names. A few cultivars with yellow leaves that are being propagated, collectively are known as golden yews, which is another nomenclature blunder.

The Pacific Yew Taxus brevifolia, native to the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America . There are several partially overlapping definitions but the term Pacific Northwest should not be confused with the Northwest Territory or the Northwest Territories of Canada....
of North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, and Canada Yew Taxus canadensis are the sources of paclitaxel

Paclitaxel

Paclitaxel is a mitotic inhibitor used in cancer chemotherapy. It was discovered in a National Cancer Institute program at the Research Triangle Institute in 1967 when Monroe E....
, a chemotherapeutic

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, refers to treatment of disease by chemicals that kill cells, specifically those of micro-organisms or cancer....
drug used in breast

Breast cancer

Breast cancer is a cancer that starts in the Cell of the breast in women and men. Worldwide, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer and the fifth most common cause of cancer death....
and lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissue of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, which is the invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs....
treatment and, more recently, in the production of the Taxus drug eluting stent by Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific

The Boston Scientific Corporation , is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices whose products are used in a range of interventional medical specialties, including interventional cardiology, peripheral interventions, neuromodulation, neurovascular intervention, electrophysiology, cardiac surgery, vascular surgery,...
. Over-harvesting of the Pacific Yew for this drug has resulted in it becoming an endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters....
, though the drug is now produced semi-synthetically from cultivated yews, without the need to further endanger the wild populations. The more common Canada yew, Taxus canadensis, is also being successfully harvested in northern Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
, Québec

Quebec

Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
and New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only Constitution of Canada bilingual province in the federation. The provincial capital is Fredericton....
, and has become another major source of paclitaxel. Other yew species contain similar compounds with similar biochemical activity. Docetaxel

Docetaxel

Docetaxel is a clinically well established mitotic inhibitor chemotherapy medication used mainly for the treatment of breast, ovarian, and non-small cell lung cancer....
, an analogue of paclitaxel, is derived from the Taxus baccata.

The yew tree can often be found in church graveyards and is symbolic of sadness. Such a representation appears in Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem "In Memoriam A.H.H.

In Memoriam A.H.H.

In Memoriam A.H.H. is a long poem by the England poet Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, completed in 1849. It is a requiem for the poet's University of Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage in Vienna in 1833, but it is also much more....
" (2.61-64).

The yew tree is a frequent symbol in the Christian poetry of T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

'Thomas Stearns Eliot', Order of Merit , was a poet, dramatist, and literary critic. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Among his most famous writings are the poems The Love Song of J....
, especially his Four Quartets
Four Quartets

Four Quartets is the name given to four related poems by T. S. Eliot, collected and republished in book form in 1943. They had been published individually from 1935 to 1942....
.

On January 18, 2008, the Botanic Gardens Conservation International

Botanic Gardens Conservation International

Botanic Gardens Conservation International is a plant conservation biology Charitable organization based in London, England. It is a membership organisation, working with 800 botanic gardens in 118 countries, whose combined work forms the world's largest plant conservation network....
(representing botanic gardens in 120 countries) stated that "400 medicinal plants are at risk of extinction, from over-collection and deforestation, threatening the discovery of future cures for disease." These included Yew tree

Yew Tree

Yew Tree may refer to:*Yew, any of various coniferous plants*Yew Tree, West Bromwich, West Midlands, England...
s (the bark is used for cancer drugs, paclitaxel

Paclitaxel

Paclitaxel is a mitotic inhibitor used in cancer chemotherapy. It was discovered in a National Cancer Institute program at the Research Triangle Institute in 1967 when Monroe E....
); Hoodia

Hoodia

Hoodia is a genus of 13 species in the flowering plant family Apocynaceae, under the subfamily Asclepiadoideae. They are stem succulent plants, described as "cactiform" because of their remarkable similarity to the unrelated cactus family....
(from Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....
, source of weight loss

Weight loss

Weight loss, in the context of medicine or health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body weight, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue....
drugs); half of Magnolia

Magnolia

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subclass Magnolioideae of the Family Magnoliaceae.The natural range of Magnolia species is a disjunct distribution, with a main center in east and southeast Asia and a secondary center in eastern North America, Central America, the West Indies, and some species i...
s (used as Chinese medicine for 5,000 years to fight cancer, dementia

Dementia

Dementia is the progressive decline in cognition due to damage or disease in the body beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Although dementia is far more common in the geriatric population, it may occur in any stage of adulthood....
and heart disease); and Autumn crocus

Autumn Crocus

Autumn Crocus could refer to one of two species of flowering plant:* the Autumn Crocus Crocus nudiflorus* the Meadow Saffron Colchicum autumnale, which is also known as Autumn Crocus...
(for gout

Gout

Gout is a crystal deposition disease hallmarked by elevated levels of uric acid in the Circulatory system. In this condition, crystals of monosodium urate or uric acid are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons and surrounding tissues....
). The group also found that 5 billion people benefit from traditional plant-based medicine for health care

Health care

File:Ear surgery on a patient.jpgFile:Monoclonal antibodies3.jpgHealth care, or healthcare, refers to the treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by the Medicine, pharmaceutical, Dentistry, clinical laboratory sciences , nursing, and allied health professions....

Hybrids

Taxus x media = Taxus baccata x Taxus cuspidata

Taxus x hunnewelliana = Taxus cuspidata x Taxus canadensis