Online Encyclopedia

BOXWOOD

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 352 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BOXWOOD  , the

wood obtained from the genus Buxus, the
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principal
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species being the well-known tree or
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shrub, B. sempervirens, the
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common box, in general use for
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borders of garden walks, ornamental parterres, &c . The other source of the ordinary boxwood of commerce is B. balearica, which yields the variety known as
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Turkey boxwood . The common box is grown throughout
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Great Britain (perhaps native in the
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chalk-hills of the south of England), in the
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southern
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part of the
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European continent generally, and extends through
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Persia into India, where it is found growing on the slopes of the western Himalayas . There has been much discussion as to whether it is a true native of Britain . Writing more than 200 years ago, John Ray, the author of the important Historia Plantarum, says, " The Box grows wild on Boxhill, hence the name; also at Boxwell, on the Cotteswold Hills in Gloucestershire, and at Boxley in Kent . . . . It grows plentifully on the chalk hills near
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Dunstable." On the other hand the box is not wild in the Channel Islands, and in the north of France, Holland and Belgium is found mainly in hedge-rows and near cultivation, and it may have been one of the many introductions owed to the Romans . Only a very small proportion of the wood suitable for
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industrial uses is now obtained in Great Britain . The box is a very slow-growing plant, adding not more than 12 or 2 in. to its diameter in twenty years, and on an
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average attaining only a height of 16 ft., with a mean diameter of 1o2 in . The leaves of this species are small, oval, leathery in texture and of a deep glossy green colour: B. balearica is a tree of consider-able
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size, attaining to a height of 8o ft., with leaves three times larger than those of the common box . It is a native of the islands of the Mediterranean, and grows in Turkey,
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Asia Minor, and around the shores of the Black Ssea, and is supposed to be the chief source of the boxwood which comes into European commerce by way of Constantinople . The wood of both species possesses a delicate yellow colour; it is very dense in structure and has a
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fine
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uniform grain, which has given it unique value for the purposes of the wood-engraver .

A large amount is used in the manufacture of measuring rules, various mathematical

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instruments, flutes and other musical instruments, as well as for turning into many minor articles, and for
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inlaying, and it is a favourite wood for small carvings . The use of boxwood for turnery and musical instruments is mentioned by Pliny, Virgil and Ovid .

End of Article: BOXWOOD
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