TAXOL ON THE SURFACE OF LEAVES AND INSIDE THE NEEDLES OF 3 SPECIES AND 2 VARIETIES OF TAXUS

Leaves of three outside-growing Taxus species (Taxus baccata L.; T. ba ccava var. elegantissima; T. cuspidata Sieb, et Zucc.; T. media var. H atfieldii; T. media var. Hickii) and two varieties contained 26-890 mu g/g of taxol (paclitaxel(R)), thus are substantial renewable resource s for obtaining this drug. Taxol(R) was deposited on the surface of th ese needles in 0.1-1.29 mu g/g which was removed with brief dipping in hot water amounting up to 0.58% of total concentration. Two other tax anes were identified (7-epi-10-deacetyltaxol; cephalomannine) but stil l many await identification. Thus, renewable resources of taxol were f ound both within and on the leaf surface of different Taxus species. T he highest taxol concentrations were found to be in the ?: media hybri ds, higher than in the case of both original species.