Taxus
E23812
Taxus is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees and shrubs, commonly known as yews, valued for their ornamental use and as a source of the anti-cancer compound paclitaxel.
All labels observed (10)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Taxus canonical | 7 |
| Taxus baccata | 2 |
| Taxus brevifolia | 2 |
| Taxus cuspidata | 2 |
| European yew (Taxus baccata) | 1 |
| Pacific yew | 1 |
| Taxus canadensis | 1 |
| Taxus floridana | 1 |
| Taxus globosa | 1 |
| Taxus wallichiana | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T139486 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Taxus Context triple: [Pinophyta, contains, Taxus]
-
A.
Thuja
Thuja is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees and shrubs commonly known as arborvitae, widely used in ornamental landscaping and hedging.
-
B.
Cryptomeria
Cryptomeria is a genus of large, evergreen coniferous trees native to East Asia, best known for the Japanese cedar widely used in timber and ornamental planting.
-
C.
Widdringtonia
Widdringtonia is a small genus of African coniferous trees commonly known as African cypresses, valued for their durable timber and ecological importance.
-
D.
Platycladus
Platycladus is a small genus of evergreen coniferous trees commonly known as Chinese arborvitae, widely used as ornamental and hedging plants in East Asia and beyond.
-
E.
Chamaecyparis
Chamaecyparis is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees commonly known as false cypresses, valued in horticulture and timber production.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Taxus Target entity description: Taxus is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees and shrubs, commonly known as yews, valued for their ornamental use and as a source of the anti-cancer compound paclitaxel.
-
A.
Thuja
Thuja is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees and shrubs commonly known as arborvitae, widely used in ornamental landscaping and hedging.
-
B.
Cryptomeria
Cryptomeria is a genus of large, evergreen coniferous trees native to East Asia, best known for the Japanese cedar widely used in timber and ornamental planting.
-
C.
Widdringtonia
Widdringtonia is a small genus of African coniferous trees commonly known as African cypresses, valued for their durable timber and ecological importance.
-
D.
Platycladus
Platycladus is a small genus of evergreen coniferous trees commonly known as Chinese arborvitae, widely used as ornamental and hedging plants in East Asia and beyond.
-
E.
Chamaecyparis
Chamaecyparis is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees commonly known as false cypresses, valued in horticulture and timber production.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
genus
ⓘ
plant genus ⓘ |
| class | Pinopsida ⓘ |
| commonName |
yew
ⓘ
yews ⓘ |
| culturalAssociation |
associated with churchyards in Europe
ⓘ
symbol of immortality in European traditions ⓘ |
| division | Pinophyta ⓘ |
| ediblePart | aril is generally considered non-toxic but seeds are poisonous ⓘ |
| evergreen | true ⓘ |
| family | Taxaceae ⓘ |
| growthForm |
shrub
ⓘ
tree ⓘ |
| growthRate | slow-growing ⓘ |
| habitat |
shaded slopes
ⓘ
well-drained soils ⓘ woodlands ⓘ |
| kingdom | Plantae ⓘ |
| leafType | needle-like leaves ⓘ |
| lifespan | long-lived ⓘ |
| nativeRange | temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere ⓘ |
| notableSpecies |
Taxus
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Taxus baccata
Taxus self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Taxus brevifolia
Taxus self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Taxus canadensis
Taxus self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Taxus cuspidata
Taxus self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Taxus floridana
Taxus self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Taxus globosa
Taxus self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Taxus wallichiana
|
| order | Pinales ⓘ |
| paclitaxelUse | anti-cancer drug ⓘ |
| plantType |
coniferous
ⓘ
evergreen ⓘ |
| producesCompound | paclitaxel ⓘ |
| reproductiveType | gymnosperm ⓘ |
| seedType | arillate seeds ⓘ |
| shadeTolerance | high ⓘ |
| taxonomicRank | genus ⓘ |
| toxicity |
most parts are poisonous to humans
ⓘ
most parts are poisonous to livestock ⓘ |
| usedIn |
cemeteries
ⓘ
formal gardens ⓘ landscape design ⓘ |
| valuedFor |
hedging
ⓘ
ornamental use ⓘ source of paclitaxel ⓘ timber ⓘ topiary ⓘ |
| woodType | softwood ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Taxus Description of subject: Taxus is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees and shrubs, commonly known as yews, valued for their ornamental use and as a source of the anti-cancer compound paclitaxel.
Referenced by (19)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Pacific yew
this entity surface form:
Taxus baccata
this entity surface form:
Taxus brevifolia
this entity surface form:
Taxus cuspidata
this entity surface form:
Taxus canadensis
this entity surface form:
Taxus globosa
this entity surface form:
Taxus wallichiana
this entity surface form:
Taxus floridana
this entity surface form:
Taxus baccata
this entity surface form:
Taxus brevifolia
this entity surface form:
Taxus cuspidata
subject surface form:
Docetaxel
this entity surface form:
European yew (Taxus baccata)