{"id":1935,"date":"2014-12-20T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?p=1935"},"modified":"2014-12-20T09:00:36","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T09:00:36","slug":"2014-advent-botany-christmas-box-sarcococca-confusa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/20\/2014-advent-botany-christmas-box-sarcococca-confusa\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 Advent Botany – Day 20 – Christmas Box (Sarcococca confusa)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Flowers<\/a>
Flowers of Sarcococca confusa<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Day 20 \u2013 Christmas Box \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>No, not getting ahead of ourselves here with Christmas boxes of the cash kind, traditionally given to tradesmen on Boxing Day (as a thank you for their year\u2019s service) nor even presents in gift-wrapped boxes traditionally exchanged on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

What we do have in mind is the evergreen shrub commonly known as the Christmas Box or Sweet Box<\/a>,\u00a0Sarcococca confusa<\/em>. This small shrub flowers over the mid-winter months with a\u00a0delightful fragrance. It is in the family Buxaceae (Box family) and related to the better known Common Box<\/a> (Buxus sempervirens<\/em>) used in box hedging in formal gardens.\u00a0\u00a0It is monoecious, with both male and female flowers found on the same plant and apparently named\u00a0confusa<\/em>\u00a0because the female flowers may have two or three stigmas, and the male flowers any number of stamens between\u00a0one\u00a0and four. Confused or not, it makes a wonderful hardy evergreen shrub for the garden.<\/p>\n

\"Sarcococca<\/a>
Sarcococca confusa<\/i> (c) Niki SImpson 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thanks\u00a0to digital botanical illustrator\u00a0Niki Simpson <\/a>for this post, check out her botanical selfie at Dr M here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 20 \u2013 Christmas Box \u2013\u00a0No, not getting ahead of ourselves here with Christmas boxes of the cash kind, traditionally given to tradesmen on Boxing Day (as a thank you…Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":1936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[52,53,54],"tags":[29,81,82],"class_list":["post-1935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent","category-herbarium-rng","category-public-engagement-with-science","tag-adventbotany","tag-christmas-box","tag-sarcococca-confusa"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n2014 Advent Botany - Day 20 - Christmas Box (Sarcococca confusa) - 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