Taxus is the source plant of anti-cancer drug paclitaxel and its biosynthetic precursor, analogs and derivatives, which has been studying for decades.  There are many endemic Taxus species in China, which have been studied in the field of multiple disciplines.  Based on the recent studies of the researchers, this review comments on the study of Taxus biology and chemistry.  The bibliometric method is used to quantify the global scientific production of Taxus-related research, and identify patterns and tendencies of Taxus-related articles.  Gaps are present in knowledge about the genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics of Taxus and their endophytic fungi.  Systems biology and various omics technologies will play an increasingly important role in the coming decades.