BOXWOOD G.N. 6388 



BOXWOOD 



Buxus sempervirens Linn. Buxaceae. 



A very hard, heavy wood of a yellowish colour striped with lighter and 

 somewhat darker bands. Diffuse-porous. Cold to the touch: generally 

 sinks in water. Very resistant to splitting. 



Transverse section. Boundary a line of contrast in the density of 

 adjoining rings; frequently a narrow zone in the outer Autumn wood 

 without pores, which zone therefore appears darker. 



Parenchyma invisible with the lens: dispersed throughout the fibres. 



Vessels just visible with good lens, exceedingly small, numerous and 

 regularly distributed except in the darker zone already referred to. 



Eays exceedingly fine and numerous, clearly visible with lens. 



Radial section. Boundaries clean-cut: vessels invisible to the naked 

 eye : rays obscure yet visible as minute flakes. 



Tangential section. As the radial, but the boundaries are clearly 

 indicated by sharp, unfringed loops of varying depth of colour. Rays 

 exceedingly minute yet multiseriate. 



Not easily confused with any other woods but the species of the same 

 genus and with the West Indian Box (so-called). This latter and the 

 Cape Boxwood (Buxus Macowani) are generally readily fissile and show 

 little or no contrast of colour between the zones of the ring. The Euro- 

 pean Boxwood will break rather than split and the zones of the ring 

 are alternately light and dark yellow. From the West Indian Box it 

 may be further distinguished by the form of the pith. In that wood the 

 pith is round and generally defective from shakes whereas that of the 

 true Boxwoods, is four-lobed or in B. sempervirens, winged. Again our 

 species has but little capacity for water but the West Indian Box is 

 very absorbent. 



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