Buxus sempervirens (common box, "Seiyotsuge")

Japanese name: セイヨウツゲ （西洋黄楊）
Scientific name: Buxus sempervirens

[Overview]
An evergreen shrub 1.5–4.5 m tall, with a trunk 20 cm in diameter.
Rarely, it becomes a small tree 10 m tall with a trunk 45 cm in diameter.
The branches grow densely, and young branches are angular.
The leaves are simple and opposite, ovate to elliptic, 1.5–3 cm long and 0.5–1 cm wide, and bright green.
They are thick, with a glossy surface.
The leaf margin is entire.
There is a very short leaf stalk.
The leaves often turn bronze in winter.
There are male and female flowers.
Compact clusters of flowers arise from the leaf axils and branch tips, with several male flowers in the lower part of the cluster and 1 female flower in the upper part.
Both male and female flowers are small, yellow-green to cream, and have no petals.
The fruit is an ovoid capsule.

[Uses]
The wood is dense and fine-grained, and is used for carving and printing blocks.
The leaves and bark are used as a folk medicine.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by cuttings.
It prefers sunny, well-drained, fertile soil.
It tolerates partial shade.
For potted plants and plants in the ground for less than 2 years, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries.
For established plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient unless summer brings a long sunny spell and the soil dries out.
For fertilizer, apply organic fertilizer in winter.
Pests include leafrollers and the box tree moth.

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