Aspirin, for example, was originally derived from willow bark, and the anticancer drug Taxol comes from the bark of the Pacific yew tree.

FORBES: Ancient Secrets

The drug is Taxol, Bristol's brand name for paclitaxel, a trace compound found in the bark of the Pacific yew tree in the northwestern U.S. During the 1970s researchers for the U.S. government's National Cancer Institute discovered that paclitaxel stops the growth of some cancerous tumors.

FORBES: Delaying tactics