BOX s^ 



Box yrows 8 15 ft. hii^h. The tlowcrs ;ire in IjIodiii in Apiil. 

 Box is an evergreen shrub, easy to propagate by cntiings, and iistlul 

 for edging or Dutch gardening tor parterres, &c. 



Being a monti;cious plant the llowcrs are unisexual, in heads. The 

 female terminal llower with 3 bracts is surrounded by male flowers \\ ith 

 I bract, and w iih honey in both sexes. There are 4 h\']iog\nous stamens 

 with stout anther-stalks, and the anthers open t(_)\vards the centre in 

 the; male tlowers. The stamens are projecting, the antliers in pairs. 

 In the female there are 3 styles, spreading and grooved. The flowers 

 are crowded. The stigmas niaturt- first. The pollen is dr\' and dust- 

 like. The hive bee moistens it with hone\' and brushes it on its hind- 

 legs. 



The fruit opens explosively, the inner layer of the i>ericarp separates 

 from the outer and U-shaped, folded layer, as in the \'iolet, causing 

 the propulsion, the capsule Ijecoming dry and tense. 



Box is a lime-loving plant, and almost limited to the chalk forma- 

 tion, growing on a lime soil. 



A cluster-cup fungus, Pnccinia b/i.vi, attacks the leaves, and Box is 

 galled by Diplosis bnxi. 



Two Homopterous insects, Psylla hiixi. Pniiiaspis lui.vi. and a 

 Heteropterous insect, Goiioccnis veiiator, are lountl on it. 



Bitxiis, Pliny, is the Latin name for the plant, and the second Latin 

 name refers to its perennial character. 



This neat shrub is called Dwarf Box, Box-tree, Bush-tree, 

 Dudgeon. In regard to the last, which is the root or wood of Box, 

 "Turners and cutters, it I mistake not the matter, so call this wood 

 Dudgeon, wherewith they make Dudgen-hafted daggers ", according 

 to Gerarde. 



I)Ox was used for hedging, being easy to cli[) and cut, a practice in 

 vogue since Roman times called topiary work, a friend of Julius Csesar's 

 inventing the method. The wood is close-grained, and used for wood 

 engraving, mathematical instruments, combs, pipes, flutes, inlay work, 

 as in Evelyn's day, wheels, swivels, pins, pegs, nut-crackers, button 

 moulds, weavers' shuttles, rulers, boot-trees, rolling-pins, pestles, tables, 

 chessmen, .screws, bobbins, spoons, knife-handles. The Dwarf Box 

 was cut into animal shapes in gardens, &c. It has been used in 

 medicine for colic, fever, madness. Corsican honey was derived from 

 the Box. it is said. 



Essential Spixific Characters: — 



275. BiLMis scinpcrvircns, L. — Evergreen tree, branched, leaves 

 shiny, alternate, oblong, tlowers in axillary clusters, anthers sagittate. 



