| Buxus | |
|---|---|
| Common Box Buxus sempervirens | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida |
| Order: | Buxales |
| Family: | Buxaceae |
| Genus: | Buxus L. |
| Species | |
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About 70 species; see text |
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Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box (majority of English-speaking countries) or boxwood (North America).
The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, with the majority of species tropical or subtropical; only the European and some Asian species are frost-tolerant. Centres of diversity occur in Cuba (about 30 species), China (17 species) and Madagascar (9 species).
They are slow-growing evergreen shrubs and small trees, growing to 2–12 m (rarely 15 m) tall. The leaves are opposite, rounded to lanceolate, and leathery; they are small in most species, typically 1.5–5 cm long and 0.3-2.5 cm broad, but up to 11 cm long and 5 cm broad in B. macrocarpa. The flowers are small and yellow-green, monoecious with both sexes present on a plant. The fruit is a small capsule 0.5-1.5 cm long (to 3 cm in B. macrocarpa), containing several small seeds.
The genus splits into three genetically distinct sections, each section in a different region, with the Eurasian species in one section, the African (except northwest Africa) and Madagascan species in the second, and the American species in the third. The African and American sections are genetically closer to each other than to the Eurasian section (Balthazar et al., 2000).
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Box are commonly grown as hedges and for topiary.
Owing to its fine grain it is a good wood for fine wood carving, although this is limited by the small sizes available.
Owing to the relatively high density of the wood (it is one of the few woods that are denser than water), boxwood is often used for chess pieces. Wooden chess sets almost always use boxwood for the white pieces and commonly use stained ('ebonized') boxwood for the black pieces, in lieu of ebony.[1] Boxwood is also used for high quality violin and viola fittings (pegs and tailpiece), and formerly for wooden combs. Boxwood was a common material for the manufacture of recorders in the eighteenth century, and a large number of mid- to high-end instruments made today are produced from one or other species of boxwood.
The extremely fine endgrain of box makes it suitable for woodblock printing.
Boxwood is a common material used to make parts for various stringed instruments. This is due to its high density and striking orange/red color. It is mostly used to make tailpieces, chin rests and tuning pegs but may be used for a variety of other parts as well. Other common wood used for this purpose are rosewood and ebony.
Boxwood was also once a popular wood for woodwind instruments, and was among the traditional woods for Great Highland bagpipes before tastes turned to imported dense tropical woods such as cocuswood, ebony, and African blackwood.[2]