BOXWOOD

This article appears in Volume V04, Page 352 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BOS-BRI

BOXWOOD , the

wood

obtained from the genus Buxus, the principal species being the well-known tree or shrub, B. sempervirens, the common box, in general use for borders of garden walks, ornamental parterres, &c. The other source of the

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

boxwood of commerce is B. balearica, which yields the variety known as Turkey boxwood. The common box is grown throughout

Great

GREAT

Britain (perhaps native in the chalk-hills of the south of England), in the southern part of the European continent generally, and extends through Persia into India, where it is found growing on the slopes of the western Himalayas. There has been much discussion as to whether it is a true native of Britain. Writing more than 200 years ago, John Ray, the author of the important Historia Plantarum, says, " The Box grows wild on Boxhill, hence the name; also at Boxwell, on the Cotteswold Hills in Gloucestershire, and at Boxley in Kent. .. . It grows plentifully on the chalk hills near Dunstable." On the other hand the box is not wild in the Channel Islands, and in the north of France, Holland and Belgium is found mainly in hedge-rows and near cultivation, and it may have been one of the many introductions owed to the Romans. Only a very small proportion of the

wood

suitable for industrial uses is now obtained in

Great

GREAT

Britain. The box is a very slow-growing plant, adding not more than 12 or 2 in. to its

diameter

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

in twenty years, and on an average attaining only a height of 16 ft., with a mean

diameter

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

of 1o2 in. The leaves of this species are small, oval, leathery in texture and of a deep glossy green colour: B. balearica is a tree of consider-able size, attaining to a height of 8o ft., with leaves three times larger than those of the common box. It is a native of the islands of the Mediterranean, and grows in Turkey, Asia

Minor

, and around the shores of the Black Ssea, and is supposed to be the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

source of the boxwood which comes into European commerce by way of Constantinople. The wood of both species possesses a delicate yellow colour; it is very dense in structure and has a fine uniform grain, which has given it unique value for the purposes of the wood-engraver. A large amount is used in the manufacture of measuring rules, various mathematical

instruments

INSTRUMENTS

, flutes and other musical

instruments

INSTRUMENTS

, as well as for turning into many

minor

articles, and for inlaying, and it is a favourite wood for small carvings. The use of boxwood for turnery and musical instruments is mentioned by Pliny, Virgil and Ovid.

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