| 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 |
| Mature Size: | 2 - 3m x 2 - 3m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Dense, Upright |
| Form: | Round |
| Texture: | Medium - fine |
| Landscape Uses: | Cut flower or foliage, 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, 1-2.5(-4)cm 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. | |