Cephalotaxus fortunei, commonly called the Chinese Plum Yew, simply Plum Yew, Chinese Cowtail Pine or in Chinese as San Jian Shan , is a coniferous shrub or small tree in the plum yew family. C. fortunei is a shrub or small tree growing to as high as 20 m with a diameter at breast height of about 20 cm. They are usually multi-stemmed with an open and loosely rounded crown. In cultivation they tend to grow on a single stem that is often leaning and bare towards the bottom, but with dense foliage on the upper half. Examination of the weakly basic fraction of the twigs and leaves of Cephalotaxusfortunei, a plant native to China, has resulted in the isolation and characterization of epiwilsonine, wilsonine and a new alkaloid named fortuneine. The structure of fortuneine was deduced by spectral and chemical means. In addition, epifortuneine was prepared and spectral data collected.