Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia, is a slow-growing conifer of the family Taxaceae found as a shaded understory tree in old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest of North America. Its bark and needles contain paclitaxel, a compound isolated in the 1960s and developed into the chemotherapy drug marketed as Taxol, used to treat ovarian, breast and other cancers, a discovery that brought the previously overlooked species sudden scientific and commercial attention.
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