f t' [ 1341 ]
B U X U S sempervirens.
Box-tree.
„ MONOECIA Tetrandria.
G en . Char. Male, Cal. o f 3 leaves. Petals 2. R u diment
o f a germen. Female, Cal. o f 4 leaves.
Petals 3 . Caps, with 3 beaks, 3 cells, and 2 seeds
in each cell.
Spec. Char. . . . .
Syn. Buxus sempervirens. Linn. Sp. PI. 1 3 9 4 . Sm.
FI. Brit. 1 0 1 3 . Buds. 4 1 7 . With. 210. Hull. 210.
Buxus. Rail Syn. 4 4 5 .
/3.B . angustifolia. Dill, in Raii Syn. 445.
T H E Box grows on dry chalky hills, but not universally.
Ray mentions Box hill in Surrey; Boxwell, Gloucestershire;
and Boxley, Kent; three places evidently named from their
producing this plant, of which the first-mentioned is the most
famous. It is a conical hill, naturally clothed with these
trees, which grow 10 or 12 feet high, and in autumn particularly,
when their older leaves assume the colour of vermilion,
present a rich and beautiful spectacle. JNdr. Woodward has
observed the chalk hills near Dunstable to produce plenty of
Box. It is not, however, mentioned in any of our three provincial
Floras.
It flowers in April, and is the most tardy in growth of all
our trees; consequently its wood is hard, heavy, and of a fine
close grain, valuable for making mathematical instruments,
combs, and the finer kinds of turners* ware. A dwarf variety
is universally cultivated for the borders of flower-gardens.
The whole plant is smooth. Branches square. Leaves opposite,
elliptical, entire, convex, notched at the end, shining,
evergreen, various in breadth. Flowers in sessile axillary
clusters, pale yellow. Capsule globose, crowned with the
permanent thick styles. It is not always easy to draw the line
of distinction between the calyx and petals, which moreover
vary occasionally in number.
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