LookAtVietnam – The endangered red yew tree has been artificially reproduced and grown on a large scale in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong.

Rare trees, including the red yew, are tended at an eco-tourism site in Da Lat City in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong.

The trees are being harvested of their bark for pharmaceutical use.

The leaves of the red yew (Taxes wallichiana Zucc) produce a drug called taxol, which is known to inhibit certain cancer cells.

Red yew trees can only be found growing naturally at altitudes over 1,500m, where there is a cool climate.

In Lam Dong alone, there are only 300 red yew trees growing in the wild, some up to 2,000 years old, in Phat Chi Valley and on the slopes of Voi Mountain. Red yew trees have also been discovered in smaller quantities in several old forests in northwestern provinces.

Centre director Vuong Chi Hung said red yew trees natural rate of reproduction was low, and the value of its timber high, so illegal logging had left it on the verge of extinction.

“This highlights the urgent need to gain protection for the wild trees and to find new methods to increase its reproduction by asexual means,” Hung said.

The centre applied a layering technique to multiplication by which its branches are pulled down to touch the ground and take root.

Hung said the centre was trying to domesticate a perennial species so it could be cultivated on a large scale for the pharmaceutical market.

The centre had developed a 2,000sq.m arboretum, adjusting cultivation, watering and fertilising to match the yew’s natural environment, he said.

The outcome was 150,000 tender red yew seedlings which were replanted on 7ha near Ta Nung and Cam Ly of Da Lat City.

After 16 months the yew bark was harvested every two months at a rate of 2.5 tonne of dried bark per ha.

The taxol content of the red yew crop was two to four times higher than that of wild yew trees.

“The market for red yew trees is very promising, including Japan, France and China,” Hung said, “and the demand is forecast to be stable, whereas other crops fluctuate.”

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News