Taxol on the surface of leaves and inside the needles of three species and two varieties of Taxus.

Leaves of three outside-growing Taxus species (Taxus baccata L.; T. baccava var. elegantissima; T cuspidata Sieb, et Zucc; T. media var. Hatfieldii; T media var. Hickii) and two varieties contained 26-890 μg/g of taxol (paclitaxel®), thus are substantial renewable resources for obtaining this drug. Taxol® was deposited on the surface of these needles in 0.1-1.29 μg/g which was removed with brief dipping in hot water amounting up to 0.58% of total concentration. Two other taxanes were identified (7-epi-10-deacetyltaxol; cephalomannine) but still many await identification. Thus, renewable resources of taxol were found both within and on the leaf surface of different Taxus species. The highest taxol concentrations were found to be in the T. media hybrids, higher than in the case of both original species.