Species
+

Buxus sempervirens L.

Box, Caucasian boxwood, Common box, Common box (EN)

Climate known 62 photographs Temperate garden plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Buxus sempervirens, the common box, European box, or boxwood, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Buxus, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia, from southern England south to northern Morocco, and east through the northern Mediterranean region to Turkey. Buxus colchica of western Caucasus and B. hyrcana of northern Iran and eastern Caucasus are commonly treated as synonyms of B. sempervirens.

Text from Wikipedia, “Buxus sempervirens”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Buxus

Buxus is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box and boxwood.

Text from Wikipedia, “Buxus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Buxaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Great Britain, Austria, Belgium +19
Wild records
727 in range· 172 open

At a glance

Warmest month
24°C
Jul, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
979mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 106 mm (CHELSA)
Light
9–42DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a temperate garden plant by the genus Buxus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and April to June in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 979 mm a year, wettest October at 106 mm, driest July at 53 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 42 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -8.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Buxus angustifolia Mill.; Buxus arborescens (L.) Mill.; Buxus arborescens var. angustifolia (Mill.) Weston; Buxus arborescens var. argenteovariegata Weston; Buxus arborescens var. aureolimbo Weston and 45 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a temperate garden plant by the genus Buxus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and April to June in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (728 mm of 979 mm) takes 8 months, September to January and April to June. Mean temperature moves 16.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July and October to December.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 979 mm a year, wettest October at 106 mm, driest July at 53 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

979 mm a year at the habitat, 728 mm of it September to January and April to June. Wettest month October at 106 mm, driest July at 53 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 681 mm to 1470 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 42 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -8.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -8.2 °C, the absolute minimum -19.3 °C, about 82 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -0.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells -4.8 °C to 2.4 °C), warmest day 24.3 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -8.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 6 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jul; mean night from -1 °C in Jan to 14 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 979 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 530 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -19.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)-19.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 9–42RH 57–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 530 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C6 / 3–107 / 4–1111 / 8–1413 / 10–1718 / 14–2121 / 18–2524 / 20–2924 / 20–2820 / 17–2416 / 13–1910 / 7–137 / 4–10
Night °C-1 / -5–2-0 / -5–32 / -2–54 / 0–78 / 5–1111 / 8–1514 / 11–1714 / 11–1711 / 8–148 / 5–113 / -1–61 / -4–3
Rain mm80 / 47–12866 / 38–10466 / 42–11189 / 54–13492 / 60–14071 / 43–11753 / 22–11166 / 39–11795 / 59–134106 / 74–17197 / 61–16298 / 57–154
DLI11 / 5–1417 / 10–2026 / 17–2933 / 27–3638 / 32–4142 / 34–4542 / 33–4637 / 28–4028 / 20–3118 / 12–2112 / 7–159 / 4–12
RH %62 / 58–6861 / 57–6559 / 56–6359 / 56–6259 / 56–6258 / 54–6257 / 52–6258 / 53–6260 / 56–6362 / 60–6663 / 59–6863 / 58–69

Each figure is the median across the 530 grid cells holding the 718 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 922:3664 (43.875, 3.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -19.3 °C, 1st-percentile night -8.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 530 distinct grid cells holding the 718 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 922:3664 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 44.00_3.125, lapse-corrected +80 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 744 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGreat Britain, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Greece, Italy, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran, Turkey· introduced: Bulgaria, Romania, Azores, Madeira, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Assam, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Ecuador
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker43.736, 3.536 · in the densest population, 610 records (84% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 727 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 172 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 445 km away. 47 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 9 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 727 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Buxus sempervirensBuxus sempervirensBuxus sempervirensBuxus sempervirensBuxus sempervirensBuxus sempervirensBuxus sempervirensBuxus sempervirens

Photographs: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Dmitriy Bochkov, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Duarte Frade, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0.

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Buxus sempervirens, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Taxus baccata L.
Peter A. Thomas, Anthony Polwart (2003) · Journal of Ecology
Selecting models to predict the timing of flowering of temperate trees: implications for tree phenology modelling
Isabelle Chuine, P. Cour, Denis‐Didier Rousseau (1999) · Plant Cell & Environment
Fungal Planet description sheets: 1042–1111
P.W. Crous, Michael J. Wingfield, Yit‐Heng Chooi, Cameron L. M. Gilchrist (2020) · Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
Fungal Planet description sheets: 1112–1181
P.W. Crous, Don A. Cowan, Gillian Maggs‐Kölling, Neriman Yılmaz (2020) · Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
Shrub facilitation of Quercus humilis regeneration in succession on calcareous grasslands
Olivier Rousset, Jacques Lepart (1999) · Journal of Vegetation Science
Contribution of Benzenemethanethiol to Smoky Aroma of Certain Vitis vinifera L. Wines
Takatoshi Tominaga, Guy Guimbertau, Denis Dubourdieu (2003) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Antimicrobial activity of 50 plant extracts
V. V. Zazharskyi, P. О. Davydenko, О. М. Кулішенко, І. В. Боровик (2019) · Biosystems Diversity
New and Interesting Fungi. 4
P.W. Crous, Margarita Hernández‐Restrepo, R.K. Schumacher, Don A. Cowan (2021) · Fungal Systematics and Evolution
An Experimental Approach to Part of the Calcicole Problem
R. S. Clymo (1962) · Journal of Ecology
Altitudinal and seasonal changes of phenolic compounds in Buxus sempervirens leaves and cuticles
Michael E. Bernal, Laura Llorens, R. Julkunen-Tiitto, Jordi Badosa (2013) · Plant Physiology and Biochemistry

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Buxus 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 13 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.