21S 



B U X 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



B U X 



Butterwort. See Pinguicula. 



Buttneria; a genus of the class Pentandna, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. C'alix : perianth one-leafed, 

 iive-cleft, deciduous ; divisions ovate, acute, spreading 

 very much. Corolla : petals five, oblong, short, converging ; 

 above, broadish, concave, ending in a long subulate bristle, 

 incumbent on the nectary at the base, then erect, expanding, 

 longer than the calix, and in two other small, lateral, short 

 reflox bristles. Nectary five-leaved, ventricose-campanulate, 

 shorter than the calix ; leaflets obovate, obtuse, flat, erect, 

 semiconnate by the filamenta. Stamina : filamenta five, sub- 

 ulate, on the outside of the nectary, each springing from two 

 adjoining leaflets of it ; antherae twin, distinct, bifid, round- 

 ish. Pistil: germen roundish, quinquangular ; style subu- 

 late, short ; stigma obtuse, obscurely quinquefid. Pericarp : 

 capsule roundish, depressed, five-grained, five-valved, muri- 

 cate. Seeds: solitary, ovate, compressed. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Corolla: five-petalled. Filamenta: at the 

 top, connate with the petals. Capsule : five-grained, muri- 

 cate.- The species are, 



1. Buttneria Scabra. Leaves lanceolate ; rib and petioles 

 prickly. This is a perennial plant, shrubby at bottom, from 

 three to five feet high, with alternate long angular branches, 

 armed with short, reflex, cartilaginous prickles. Found by 

 Aublet between Cayenne and Couron, in June. 



2. Buttneria Carthaginensis. Leaves ovate ; rib and pe- 

 tioles prickly ; stems perennial, rather woody, five-cornered ; 

 the furrows and angles obtuse, armed with crooked reflex 

 prickles ; the tender branches round, prickly, alternate ; 

 flowers without smell, small, white, very numerous. Native 

 of Carthagena and St. Domingo, flowering in September and 

 October. 



3. Buttneria Microphylla. Branches flexuose, even ; leaves 

 ovate, obtuse, on short peduncles. A shrub, four or five 

 feet high : prickles solitary, stipular, horizontal ; flowers 

 small, whitish-green, from three to five together. Found 

 in the island of St. Domingo. 



Button-tree. See Conocarptis. 



Button-weed. See Spermacoce. 



Button-wood. See Cephalanthus. 



liuxiaum'ui ; a kind of Moss, of which there are only two 

 species, both of which are to be found in the Dissertation of 

 the younger Linneus on Mosses, . p. 25 and 33. 



Buxus ; a genus of the class Moncecia, order Tetandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTBR. MalejLuwers, prominent from the 

 the buds of the plant. Calix : perianth three-leaved ; leaf- 

 lets roundish, obtuse, concave, spreading. Corolla : petals 

 t\vt>, roundish, concave, very like the calix, but larger. 

 Stiirniiiti : filamenta four, subulate, erect, expanding, rather 

 larger than the calix ; anthera; erect, twin. Pistil : rudiment 

 of a germen without style or stigma. Females, in the same 

 bud with males. Calix: perianth four-leaved; leaflets round- 

 ish, obtuse, concave, spreading. Corolla: petals three, 

 roundish, concave, very like the calix, but larger. Pistil : 

 irermon superior, roundish, obtusely three-cornered, ending 

 in three very short permanent styles; stigmas obtuse, hispid. 

 Pericarp : capsule coriaceous, roundish, three-beaked, three- 

 celled, bursting elastically into three points. Seals: twin, 

 oblong, rounded on one side, flat on the other. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Male. Calix : three-leaved ; petals two ; 

 .the rudiment of a e;erinen. Female. Calir : four-leaved; 

 petals three ; styles three ; capsule three-beaked, three- 



rciled ; seeds two. The only known distinct species, of 



'which there are several varieties, is, 



]'. Buxus Sempervirens ; Evergreen Box. Box is well 

 known in its dwarf state, and is a shrub about three feet in 



height ; it becomes, however, when left to itself, a tree twelve 

 or fifteen feet high, with a trunk equalling the human thigh in 

 thickness, covered with a rugged greyish bark, that of the 

 branches being yellowish. The wood is of a yellow colour, 

 of an even close grain, very hard and ponderous, and is the 

 only kind of European timber which will not swim in water. 

 It is ranked with the Ebony for closeness of grain. The 

 leaves are ovate or oval in the common sort, hard, smooth, 

 glossy, evergreen, very dark green above, pale green under- 

 neath, something resembling those of Myrtle, but blunt, and 

 commonly emarginate at the end ; the edges are revolute, they 

 are commonly set on very short petioles, and on the twigs 

 they come out regularly in pairs, so close as almost to con- 

 ceal them. Mr. Miller insists that the Common Box tree, the 

 Narrow-leaved, and the Dwarf or Dutch Box, are three cer- 

 tainly distinct species. The two sorts of Box-tree have been 

 frequently raised from seeds, and constantly produced plants 

 of the same kind as those the seeds were taken from ; and 

 the Dwarf Box will never rise to any considerable height with 

 any culture, nor have I seen this sort flower, where the 

 plants have been encouraged to grow many years in the 

 greatest luxuriancy. There are two or three varieties of the 

 first, which are propagated in the gardens : one with yellow, 

 and another with white-striped leaves ; the other has the 

 tops of the leaves only marked with yellow, which is called 

 Tipped Box. The Box-tree is a native of most parts of 

 Europe, from Britain southwards. There are whole moun- 

 tains covered with it, between Lyons and Geneva, and in 

 Savoy, but not of any size. It is also vry common in many 

 parts of Burgundy, Dauphiny, and Provence. It abounds in 

 many countries of Asia, as about Mount Caucasus, in Persia. 

 China, Cochin-china, &c. ; also in America. In England it 

 was formerly much more common than it is at present. 

 Gerarde says, " it groweth upon sundry waste and barren 

 hills in England ;" and Parkinson, " that it is found with us 

 in many woods, and wood-grounds ; that it is also planted in 

 divers orchards, or house back sides, where it never groweth 

 high, but serveth as a bush to dry linen on," &c. Many of 

 these bushes, however, have grown up to trees of a reasonable 

 size, about old mansions and farm-houses, but are now for 

 the most part destroyed. " These trees rise naturally," says 

 Evelyn, " in Kent, at Boxley, and in Surry, giving name to 

 Box-hill. He that Ln winter should behold some of our highest 

 hills in Surry clad with whole woods of them, for divers miles 

 in circuit, as in those delicious groves of them belonging to the 

 late Sir Adam Brown, of Bechworth-castle, might easily fancy 

 himself transported into some new or enchanted country." 

 The enchantment, alas! has been long broken. In 1".">9, 

 Mr. Miller lamented that the trees on Box-hill had been then 

 pretty much destroyed, though many of a considerable si/e 

 still remained : but the destruction since that time h;is been 

 much greater. It has been conjectured, that Box-hill was 

 planted with these trees by the Earl of Arundel ; but there 

 is the most authentic proof that they were there before his 

 time ; and the ground on which they grow was not his pro- 

 perty. Not only this hill near Darking in Surry, and Boxley 

 in Kent, but Boxwell in Coteswold, Gloucestershire, was 

 named from this tree. Mr. Woodward remarks it " as plenti- 

 ful on the chalk hills near Dunstable. It is fond of open 

 dry situations, and a calcareous soil. In temperate clini.ites 

 and seasons, itflowers in February and March. The wood of 

 the Box sells at a high price, by weight. Being very hard ;iml 

 smooth, and not apt to warp, it is well adapted to a variety 

 of nicer works." " It is of special use," says Kvel\ n, " for 

 the turner, engraver, carver, mathematical-instrument maker, 

 comb and pipe or flute-maker ; the roots are also enu-iloveJ 



