492 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
found growing to a greater height than fifteen 
feet, with a stem of two feet in circumference. 
Abroad, however, it grows frequently to double 
this height and circumference. 
The leaves of the Box-Tree are naturally distin- 
guished from the leaves of the more familiar dwarf 
shrub by their larger size. Glossy of hue, they grow 
in opposite pairs on their stems, are oval in shape, 
concave on the under side, and of thick, leathery 
texture. They are borne on very short stalks, the 
extensions of which form their raised and very 
prominent mid-veins. It is not easy, owing to 
the opacity of the substance of the leaf, to see the 
course of the branch-veins. But on examining a 
Box leaf with a magnifying glass, it will be 
seen that the veins, which branch in roughly 
and obliquely parallel lines from the mid-vein to 
the margin, take a wavy and somewhat irregular 
course, and are irregularly forked. The edges of 
the leaf-stalks, it will be further noticed, are 
slightly downy. The flowers of the Box-Tree are 
of a whitish, or greenish yellowish-white colour, 
are very small in size, and grow from the axils 
of the leaves, usually appearing in April or May. 
