Common Boxwood, Common Box, European Box                BUK-sus sem-per-VI-renz

• Broadleaf evergreen shrub, 15-20(30) ft [4.5-6(9) m] high, dense, multibranched, rounded or broad outline. Stem angular ("square").  Leaves opposite, simple, elliptic to oblong, 12-25 mm long, about half as wide, obtuse or emarginate (notched) at apex, dark green above, light or yellowish green below, midvein below is cream to yellowish.  Creamy flowers, without petals, develop in leaf axils in spring, fragrant.  Fruit globose, 8 mm long, three-horned, dehiscent capsule.
• Sun to part shade. Adabtable, responds well to mulching. Surface rooter.
• Hardy to USDA Zone (5)6       Native to southern Europe, northern Africa, western Asia.  It is a variable species, both in cultivation and in the wild, and has given rise to many cultivars (26 are described my Dirr, 1998).  The cultivars are much more common in cultivation than is the species.
• sempervirens: always green, evergreen
• Oregon State Univ. campus: southeast corner of East Greenhouse (old plant), east side Strand Ag. Hall.