Trees produce natural chemicals, called isoprene and terpene, that are thought to protect their leaves from too much heat and sunlight.

Oridonin anent-kaurene diterpenoid compound mainly isolated from the leaves of R. rubescen. Oridonin has been proved to possess good antitumor activity .

Taxadiene synthase, a diterpene cyclase, catalyzes the conversion of geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) to taxadiene, a key intermediate in Taxol biosynthesis in yew.