Buxus
From The Plant Encyclopedia
Boxwoods
Aden Earth Zone
3 - 17
Cultivation
- Cultivation: Low-Maintenance
- Light: Sun, Dappled
- Soil: Mid-Fertility
- pH: 7
- Moisture: Medium
Characteristics
- Form: Tree, Shrub
- Habit: Evergreen
- Flower: Small
- Fruit/Seed: Small
- Foliage: Leaves, Green
- Uses: Ornamental
About
Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box (majority of English-speaking countries) or boxwood (North America).
The boxes are native 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 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 Shrubs and small Trees, 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 is a small capsule 0.5-1.5 cm long (to 3 cm in B. macrocarpa), containing several small seeds.
Popular Cultivated Species
Little Leaf Boxwood Buxus microphylla
Common Boxwood Buxus sempervirens
References
Balthazar, M. von, Peter K. Endress, P. K., and Qiu, Y.-L. 2000. Phylogenetic relationships in Buxaceae based on nuclear internal transcribed spacers and plastid ndhF sequences. Int. J. Plant Sci. 161(5): 785–792 (available online). <references />
