Buxus papillosa
C.K.Schneid., Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. 2: 139. 1907; Bor, Man. Indian For.
Bot. 108. 1953. B. sempervirens auct. non L., 1753: Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 267. 1885, p. p.
Eng.: Box-wood Tree.
Undershrubs, shrubs or small trees, monoecious, up to 3 m tall; stems crooked; branchlets brown hirtellous, glabrous later on. Leaves opposite, subsessile, ovate, narrowly oblonglanceolate, linear-lanceolate or narrowly elliptic-oblong, rounded and attenuate at base, decurrent into a minute petiole, acute to obtuse, rounded or retuse at apex, entire, 2.5 - 7.5 x 0.8 - 1.5 cm, coriaceous, glabrous above, white papillate and minutely hairy or glabrescent beneath; venation indistinct; petioles 1 - 3 mm long, puberulous. Inflorescences axillary, 8 – 12 mm long, fewflowered racemose spikes or glomerules, with sessile flowers, the terminal flower usually female, surrounded by closely arranged male flowers. Male flowers: sepals 4 (2 + 2), oblong or suborbicular, bilobed at apex, 2 - 3 x 1 – 2 mm; stamens 4 or 5, exserted; filaments ca 1.5 mm long; anthers ca 1.5 mm long, 3 times as long as broad; pistillode ca 1.5 mm long or absent. Female flowers: sepals 6, in 2 or 3 series, broadly oblong to suborbicular, 2 – 3 x 1.5 – 2 mm, outer ones smaller; ovary 3-locular, ca 2 mm long, the three corners ending in thick short up to 1 mm long styles. Fruits oblong-ovoid, 3-locular, 3-horned, woody, wrinkled, 7 – 10 x 7 - 12 mm, walnut brown; horns 2 – 3 mm long, upright; seeds 3 - 6, oblong-ovoid, obscurely trigonous, ca 5 x 3 mm, smooth with vertical fissures, shiny black.
Fl. & Fr. (Feb.-) March - May (-Aug.)
Distrib. India: Hot dry slopes, in temperate hills, at 1200 - 3000 m altitude, sometimes cultivated as hedge plant in plains. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu.
Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan.
Uses. Wood yellowish white, used for engraving, turning, carving and for making mathematical instruments.
Undershrubs, shrubs or small trees, monoecious, up to 3 m tall; stems crooked; branchlets brown hirtellous, glabrous later on. Leaves opposite, subsessile, ovate, narrowly oblonglanceolate, linear-lanceolate or narrowly elliptic-oblong, rounded and attenuate at base, decurrent into a minute petiole, acute to obtuse, rounded or retuse at apex, entire, 2.5 - 7.5 x 0.8 - 1.5 cm, coriaceous, glabrous above, white papillate and minutely hairy or glabrescent beneath; venation indistinct; petioles 1 - 3 mm long, puberulous. Inflorescences axillary, 8 – 12 mm long, fewflowered racemose spikes or glomerules, with sessile flowers, the terminal flower usually female, surrounded by closely arranged male flowers. Male flowers: sepals 4 (2 + 2), oblong or suborbicular, bilobed at apex, 2 - 3 x 1 – 2 mm; stamens 4 or 5, exserted; filaments ca 1.5 mm long; anthers ca 1.5 mm long, 3 times as long as broad; pistillode ca 1.5 mm long or absent. Female flowers: sepals 6, in 2 or 3 series, broadly oblong to suborbicular, 2 – 3 x 1.5 – 2 mm, outer ones smaller; ovary 3-locular, ca 2 mm long, the three corners ending in thick short up to 1 mm long styles. Fruits oblong-ovoid, 3-locular, 3-horned, woody, wrinkled, 7 – 10 x 7 - 12 mm, walnut brown; horns 2 – 3 mm long, upright; seeds 3 - 6, oblong-ovoid, obscurely trigonous, ca 5 x 3 mm, smooth with vertical fissures, shiny black.
Fl. & Fr. (Feb.-) March - May (-Aug.)
Distrib. India: Hot dry slopes, in temperate hills, at 1200 - 3000 m altitude, sometimes cultivated as hedge plant in plains. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu.
Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan.
Uses. Wood yellowish white, used for engraving, turning, carving and for making mathematical instruments.
