''Buxus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of about seventy species in the 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 ...

. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, with the majority of species being tropical or subtropical; only the European and some Asian species are frost-tolerant. Centres of diversity occur in Cuba (about 30 species), China (17 species) and Madagascar (9 species). They are slow-growing

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

shrubs and small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, growing to 2–12 m (rarely 15 m) tall. The leaves are opposite, rounded to lanceolate, and leathery; they are small in most species, typically 1.5–5 cm long and 0.3–2.5 cm broad, but up to 11 cm long and 5 cm broad in ''B. macrocarpa''. The flowers are small and yellow-green, monoecious with both sexes present on a plant. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a small capsule 0.5–1.5 cm long (to 3 cm in ''B. macrocarpa''), containing several small

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s. The genus splits into three genetically distinct sections, each section in a different region, with the Eurasian species in one section, the African (except northwest Africa) and Madagascan species in the second, and the American species in the third. The African and American sections are genetically closer to each other than to the Eurasian section.

Selected species

Europe, northwest Africa, Asia

*'' Buxus austro-yunnanensis'' (Yunnan box; southwest China) *'' Buxus balearica'' (Balearic box; Balearic Islands, southern Spain, northwest Africa) *'' Buxus bodinieri'' (China) *'' Buxus cephalantha'' (China) *'' Buxus cochinchinensis'' (

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

) *''

Buxus colchica ''Buxus colchica'' (syn. ''B. hyrcana'') is a species of ''Buxus'' native to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Turkey. It is threatened by habitat loss and defoliation by the caterpillars of an introduced moth species, '' Cydalima perspectalis''. ...

'' (Georgian box; western Caucasus; considered also a syn. of ''B. sempervirens'') *'' Buxus hainanensis'' (Hainan box; China: Hainan) *'' Buxus harlandii'' (Harland's box; southern China, Vietnam) *'' Buxus hebecarpa'' (China) *'' Buxus henryi'' (Henry's box; China) *'' Buxus hyrcana'' (Caspian box; Alborz, eastern Caucasus; considered also a syn. of ''B. sempervirens'') *'' Buxus ichangensis'' (China) *''

Buxus latistyla ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'' (China) *'' Buxus linearifolia'' (China) *'' Buxus megistophylla'' (China) *'' Buxus microphylla'' (Japanese box; Korea, China, Vietnam; long cultivated in Japan) *''

Buxus mollicula ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'' (China) *'' Buxus myrica'' (China, Vietnam) *'' Buxus papillosa'' (western Himalaya) *''

Buxus pubiramea ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'' (China) *''

Buxus rivularis ''Buxus'' is a genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species an ...

'' (

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

) *'' Buxus rolfei'' (Borneo) *'' Buxus rugulosa'' (China, eastern Himalaya) *'' Buxus rupicola'' (Malaysia) *''

Buxus sempervirens ''Buxus sempervirens'', the common box, European box, or boxwood, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Buxus'', native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia, from southern England south to northern Morocco ...

'' (common box or European box; western and southern Europe, except far southwest) *'' Buxus sinica'' (Chinese box; China, Korea, Japan) *''

Buxus stenophylla ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'' (China) *'' Buxus wallichiana'' (Himalayan box; Himalaya)

Africa, Madagascar

*'' Buxus acuminata'' (Africa: Zaire; syn. ''Notobuxus acuminata'') *''

Buxus calcarea ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native plant, native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, north ...

'' (Madagascar endemic) *'' Buxus capuronii'' (Madagascar endemic) *''

Buxus hildebrandtii ''Buxus hildebrandtii'' is a species of shrub or small tree native to the Horn of Africa. Description ''Buxus hildebrandtii'' is a shrub or small tree. It is generally below 6 meters in height, but can grow up to 9 meters high and a trunk diame ...

'' (eastern Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia) *'' Buxus humbertii'' (Humbert's box; Madagascar endemic) *'' Buxus itremoensis'' (Madagascar endemic) *'' Buxus lisowskii'' (Congo) *''

Buxus macowanii ''Buxus macowanii'', aka Cape box, is an evergreen species of boxwood endemic to South Africa, where it occurs in two disjunct populations - in coastal forest and shady ravines from the Eastern Cape to southern Natal, and in the Waterberg of the ...

'' (Cape box; eastern and northern South Africa) *'' Buxus macrocarpa'' (Madagascar endemic) *''

Buxus madagascarica ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native plant, native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, north ...

'' (Madagascan box; Madagascar, Comoros) *''

Buxus monticola ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native plant, native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, north ...

'' (Madagascar endemic) *''

Buxus moratii ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native plant, native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, north ...

'' (Madagascar, Comoros) *''

Buxus natalensis ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'' (Natal box; eastern South Africa; syn. ''Notobuxus natalensis'') *'' Buxus nyasica'' (Malawi) *''

Buxus obtusifolia ''Buxus obtusifolia'' is a species of plant in the 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 ...

'' (eastern Africa; syn. ''Notobuxus obtusifolia'') *''

Buxus rabenantoandroi ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'' (Madagascar endemic; syn. ''B. angustifolia'' GE Schatz & Lowry ''non'' Mill.)

Americas

*'' Buxus aneura'' (Cuba) *''

Buxus arborea ''Buxus arborea'' is a species of plant in the family Buxaceae. It is Endemism, endemic to Jamaica. It is threatened by habitat loss. Description It contains capsule fruit. Buxus arborea contains compound leaves. In addition, it is perennially g ...

'' (Jamaica) *''

Buxus bartletii ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'' (Central America) *''

Buxus brevipes ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'' (Cuba) *'' Buxus citrifolia'' (Venezuela) *''

Buxus crassifolia ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native plant, native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, north ...

'' (Cuba) *'' Buxus ekmanii'' (Cuba) *'' Buxus excisa'' (Cuba) *''

Buxus heterophylla ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native plant, native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, north ...

'' (Cuba) *'' Buxus imbricata'' (Cuba) *''

Buxus lancifolia ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native plant, native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, north ...

'' (Mexico) *''

Buxus macrophylla ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native plant, native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, north ...

'' (Central America) *'' Buxus mexicana'' (Mexico) *'' Buxus muelleriana'' (Cuba) *''

Buxus olivacea ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native plant, native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, north ...

'' (Cuba) *''

Buxus pilosula ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'' (Cuba) *'' Buxus portoricensis'' (Puerto Rico) *'' Buxus pubescens'' (Mexico) *'' Buxus rheedioides'' (Cuba) *''

Buxus vahlii ''Buxus vahlii'', or Vahl's boxwood, is a rare species of plant in the Buxaceae, boxwood family. It is native to Puerto Rico and St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, where it is known from no more than four populati ...

'' (Vahl's box or smooth box; Puerto Rico; syn. ''B. laevigata'')

Selected cultivars

* ''Buxus'' 'Green Velvet' '' * ''Buxus microphylla'' var. ''koreana'' 'Winter Gem'

Uses

Cultivation

Box plants are commonly grown as

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoin ...

s and for

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

. In Britain and mainland Europe, box is subject to damage from caterpillars of '' Cydalima perspectalis'' which can devastate a box hedge within a short time. This is a recently introduced species first noticed in Europe in 2007 and in the UK in 2008 but spreading. There were 3 UK reports of infestation in 2011, 20 in 2014 and 150 in the first half of 2015.

Wood carving

Owing to its fine grain it is a good wood for fine

wood carving Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

, although this is limited by the small sizes available. It is also resistant to splitting and chipping, and thus useful for

decorative Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...

or storage boxes. Formerly, it was used for wooden combs. As a timber or wood for carving it is "boxwood" in all varieties of English. Owing to the relatively high density of the

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

, boxwood is often used for chess pieces; unstained boxwood for the white pieces, and stained ('

ebonized Ebonising is a process for darkening wood, giving it an appearance similar to ebony, hence the name. It is particularly used for pianos and fine furniture. History While little record exists of who invented ebonizing, it was popular among the upp ...

') boxwood for the black pieces in lieu of

ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...

. The extremely fine endgrain of box makes it suitable for

woodblock printing Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of textile printing, printing on textiles and later paper. Each page o ...

and

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...

blocks, for which it was the usual material in Europe. In the 16th century, boxwood was used to create intricate decorative carvings, including intricate rosary prayer beads. As of 2016, the largest collection of these carvings is at the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

in Toronto. High quality wooden spoons have usually been carved from box, with beech being the usual cheaper substitute.

Musical instruments

Due to its high density, resistance to chipping, and relatively low cost, boxwood has been used to make parts for various

stringed instruments String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

since antiquity. It is mostly used to make tailpieces, chin rests and tuning pegs, but may be used for a variety of other parts as well. Other woods used for this purpose are

rosewood Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated ...

and ebony. Boxwood was a common material for the manufacture of

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

s in the eighteenth century, and a large number of mid- to high-end instruments made today are produced from one or other species of boxwood. Boxwood was once a popular wood for other woodwind instruments, and was among the traditional woods for

Great Highland bagpipes The Great Highland bagpipe ( gd, a' phìob mhòr "the great pipe") is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland, and the Scottish analogue to the Great Irish Warpipes. It has acquired widespread recognition through its usage in the British milita ...

before tastes turned to imported dense tropical woods such as

cocuswood ''Brya ebenus'', also known as espino de sabana, granadillo, cocus wood, cocuswood, and coccuswood, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the Caribbean islands of Cuba and Jamaica. Horticulturally it is ...

, and

African blackwood ''Dalbergia melanoxylon'' (African blackwood, grenadilla, or mpingo) is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to seasonally dry regions of Africa from Senegal east to Eritrea and south to the north-eastern parts of South Africa. The ...

Historical

Prior to the development of plastics, boxwood was important to a wide range of fields from engineering to arts, construction to cartography, due to its density and stability making it one of the best available materials for measurement

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

and

technical drawing Technical drawing, drafting or drawing, is the act and discipline of composing drawings that visually communicate how something functions or is constructed. Technical drawing is essential for communicating ideas in industry and engineering ...

rulers. Alternative materials of the era were

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

, paper, and metal. Disadvantages of ivory included that it would slightly shrink over time, the size and shape of blanks was limited by that of the tusk, and supply was limited. Paper was soft, difficult to use, and did not last long. Metal marked the surface it was being used on and increased expense. Ebony was another dense and stable wood prized for drawing instruments but typically only if scales were not necessary; boxwood's light color contrasted much better with scales. Devices made of boxwood included set squares, scale rulers, yardsticks, folding rulers,

slide rules The slide rule is a mechanical analog computer which is used primarily for multiplication and division, and for functions such as exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry. It is not typically designed for addition or subtraction, which ...

, Marquois scales, T-squares, protractors, and a wide range of other measuring, metering, and straight-edge devices and tools, as well as general functional items such as combs, weaving shuttles, etc. A ''boxwood rule'' generally refers to a style of folding ruler with brass hinge(s). General Thomas F. Meagher decorated the hats of the men of the Irish Brigade with boxwood during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, as he could find no shamrock.

References

External links

Box / Royal Horticultural Society

American Boxwood Society

Revision of the genus Buxus in Madagascar
(pdf file) {{Authority control Eudicot genera Plants used in bonsai Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus