NEW HAVEN, Conn. In the Northwest, the best known source of the promising cancer drug taxol is the bark of the Pacific yew tree, part of the old-growth forests where endangered northern spotted owls live.
In the Northeast, it's most people's lawn shrubs.
''Many people have it growing at the foundation of their houses,'' said John Anderson, director of The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station here. ''The key is getting it out of the plant and into the hands of the people who know how to use it and who need it.''
The Pacific yew is one of numerous plants belonging to the genus taxus. Finding taxus plants, all of which contain taxol, is as easy as going to your nearby landscape nursery.
Although the only currently approved source of taxol for treating cancer is the Pacific yew tree growing in the wild, scientists across the country have been examining other taxus plants, including those in the Northeast, for other sources.
Last December, the federal Food and Drug Administration approved taxol for treating ovarian cancer in women who have not responded to other treatments.
Mary Jane Mattina, head of the experiment station's analytical chemistry department, says the Northeast is a plentiful source of taxus plants and could benefit from taxol research.
''There are 500 to 1,000 acres that could be put into the production of taxol,'' she said, noting that nursery owners ''are willing and eager to know how they can participate in this.''
Last year, Mattina clipped samples of 15 subspecies of taxus plants from four nurseries in Connecticut and Rhode Island.