Scientific Name: Buxus sempervirens
Common Name: common boxwood
Family Name: Buxaceae
Origin: Europe
Hardiness Zone: Zone 6: (-23 to -18 °C)
Plant Type: Broadleaf evergreen, Flowering cut plant
Mature Size: 2 - 3m x 2 - 3m (height x width)
Habit: Dense, Upright
Form: Round
Texture: Medium - fine
Landscape Uses: Floristry, Group or mass planting, Hedge row, Rock garden, Sheared hedge, Topiary
Exposure: Full sun only if soil kept moist, Part sun/part shade, Filtered shade, Deep shade
Soil or Media: Alkaline, Well-drained
Leaves: Simple, Opposite, Leathery, Pinnate venation, Glabrous, Lustrous, Elliptic, Ovate, Entire
Flowers: Flowers solitary, Green-yellow, Mar-Apr
Fruit: Capsule, Green, Brown, Jul-Aug-Sep-Oct
Key ID Features:
New growth stems felty; leaves opposite, most blades ovate to elliptic, 1-4cm long x 0.6-1.5cm wide, apex notched, margins entire, dark green smmoth waxy surface, undersides yellowish-green, strong 'burnt hair' odour when crushed; flowers tiny and often over-looked, pale yellow to cream, in axillary clusters, April-May. Winter ID: leaves turn bronze in cold weather.