Box is such a familiar garden hedging plant that it comes as a bit of shock to find that it is a native shrub and a very rare one at that. The species name gives a clue to its popularity: sempervirens = always alive. In other words it stays green throughout the winter exactly the properties a gardner would want from a hedging plant. In addition it doesn't grow very quickly and can be easily trimmed.

The distribution map of Buxus sempervirens show it to be as common as muck but the vast majority of the records are of garden escapes or planted. It is found native mostly in a few locations in southern England on chalky soils. It has escaped in Wales and southern Scotland and to a far lesser extent in Ireland but there are few truly native sites but naturally Box Hill is one of them.

Box Hill, Surrey, 29th July 2011

Added on 4th August 2011