A preliminary study of the taxane chemistry and natural history of the Mexican yew, Taxus globosa Schltdl

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 habitatare discussed. Chemical study involved leaf and twig material from...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Melvin J. Shemluck, Susan W. Brobst, Eduardo Estrada, Robert Nicholson
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2003
País:México
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Repositorio:Redalyc-UANL
OAI Identifier:oai:redalyc.org:57707205
Acceso en línea:https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=57707205
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Biología
taxonomy
Mexican yew
conservation
Taxus globosa
economic botany
Descripción
Sumario: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 habitatare discussed. Chemical study involved leaf and twig material from forty-nine plants from three localities in Mexico. Levelsof taxol, cephalomannine and baccatin III were determined by HPLC analysis. Intrapopulational variation was found to bevery high while mean taxane levels for each of the three populations were very similar. The average percentage of taxol inleaves of T. globosa is higher than in all other species of Taxus (0.0121% dry wt.).