The Most Expensive Medicinal Plant on earth? 红豆杉树

The Chinese Yew Tree



In the National Nature Reserve in the northwest  of Yunnan Province grows a rare plant-the Chinese Yew, and it is under the first-class state protection. According to research, in the roots, trunk, leaves and barks of the Chinese Yew exists the highest content of pacilitaxel, which is the most expensive cure for cancer and the price of it reaches 10 million USD every kg in the international market, so it is regarded as the most expensive medical plant on earth.( http://en.ynta.gov.cn/Item/1773.aspx)

Sipping wine made from the berries of the yew tree in China


Two millennial Chinese yews were discovered in a village near Xuancheng city of Anhui province. Chinese yew, which is equivalent to the panda in the botanical world, is one of the first-class protection tree species of China. It grows very slowly and only can increase one centimeter in diameter every 10 years.
As these two recently discovered Chinese yews are 10 meters and 20 meters high, experts estimated they are more than 1,000 years old.
The Chinese are trying their best to conserve the old Yew trees in villages throughout the country. Many countries in the world are doing the same too, like Spain.

Tibet has taken measures to conserve the yew tree also.


(ECNS) -- A 2,735-year-old Chinese yew was found in the Zeng Feng Ling natural reserve area on Changbai Mountain in Jilin province, Xinhuanet.com reported on Friday.
Regarded as the "living fossil" of the plant kingdom, Chinese yew's history can be traced back 2.5 million years. It is among the first-grade state protective plants in China.
A worker at the local forestry center found a tree mass of Chinese yews. An evaluation by experts from Beihua University showed that 14 Chinese yews in the tree mass are over 900 years old, and the largest one, at 13 meters, with its diameter reaching 185 centimeters, is 2,735 years old.
The tree has been crowned the "king of Chinese yew" by experts from the university.

More research news here. 红豆杉树中国