Taxus baccata, Yew, is a medium to tall sized conifer with a wide but scattered distribution in Europe.

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Fruits, unlike many other conifers, don’t bear its seeds in a cone. Each seed is wrapped in a bright red fleshy cup (arillus).

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Taxus baccata, Yew, poisonous plant

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Sfogliando la letteratura scientifica, a proposito di Taxus baccata, si leggono cose interessanti, ancora in fieri. Pharmacognostic studies on Taxus baccata L.: a brilliant source of anti-cancer agents mette in evidenza che in questa pianta i taxoidi come taxusin, baccatin, baccatin, lignans, flavanoids, steroids, paclitaxel and sugar derivatives, sembrano utili for the treatment of different types of cancer [1]. Precedentemente nello studio: Taxus – the panacea for cancer treatment, si legge: discovery of taxol a diterpenoid obtained form Taxus species has opened new vistas in the treatment of cancer and can be considered a major break through [2].

Giovanna Masini

Bibliografia

[1] Asif M, Rizwani GH, Zahid H, Khan Z, Qasim R, Pharmacognostic studies on Taxus baccata L.: a brilliant source of anti-cancer agents, “Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences”, 2016;29(1):105-9

[2] Lavhle Manish, Bhalekar Mangesh, Vidya Sabale, Taxus – the panacea for cancer treatment, “Ancient Science of Life”, 2005;24(3):152-159