Box - Buxus sempervirens

Description

Evergreen shrub or small tree. Leaves opposite, oval to elliptical. Flowers greenish yellow, tiny (2 mm) in lateral clusters with male and female borne on the same plant. Fruit small three horned capsule containing black seeds.

Similar Species

Very similar to Wilson's Honeysuckle and Box-leaved Honeysuckle, but quite different when in flower and fruit.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Woodland, large bushes surviving as a result of deliberate planting for landscape or amenity reasons, or for pheasant cover.  Common as a trimmed ornamental bush or low hedge (often non-flowering) cultivar in parks, gardens, churchyards and cemeteries.

When to see it

Flowers April and May.

Life History

Evergreen.

UK Status

Widely planted throughout Britain but rarely naturalised; native only in a small area in S England. 

VC55 Status

Occasional as a planted bush in woodland and parkland in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 44 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Box
Species group:
Trees, Shrubs & Climbers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Buxales
Family:
Buxaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
11
First record:
13/08/2016 (Nicholls, David)
Last record:
20/02/2024 (Carter, Robert)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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Latest images

Latest records

Photo of the association

Box Sucker

The psyllid causes galls to form on the shoot tips of Box. These galls take the form of pale, cabbage like clusters, the bunched leaves being strongly concave and slightly thickened.  During the summer they conceal numerous tiny pale green nymphs covered with white wax.