''Sarcococca orientalis'' is a species in the genus ''

Sarcococca ''Sarcococca'' (sweet box or Christmas box) is a genus of 11 species of flowering plants in the box family Buxaceae, native to eastern and southeastern Asia and the Himalayas. They are slow-growing, monoecious, evergreen shrubs tall. The leaves ...

'' in the plant family

Buxaceae The Buxaceae are a small family of six genera and about 123 known species of flowering plants. They are shrubs and small trees, with a cosmopolitan distribution. A seventh genus, sometimes accepted in the past (''Notobuxus''), has been shown ...

. It is commonly known as Christmas box or sweet box. It is native to

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

province of south-east China, and forms a small evergreen shrub, preferring positions with some shade. The ovate-lanceolate leaves are cuneate at the base and can reach 9 cm in length. The leaves are longer than the leaves of the commonly cultivated ''S.confusa''Haw, S. G., ''Broad-leaved Evergreens'', Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd., 2000, p105 and broader than ''S. hookeriana''. The pink-tinged white flowers are inconspicuous but sweetly scented, and appear along the branches in midwinter, their scent most noticeable during mild spells. The small fruits (

drupes In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

) are black.

References

Flora of China orientalis {{eudicot-stub