Box Hill, a steep chalk bluff above the River Mole close to Dorking in Surrey, is the most noted place to see Box growing in the wild in abundance. But it also grows in other places in England, and it should be noted that it also occurs in our south-west region at Boxwell in Gloucestershire. This is a curious distribution for a tree which has its main home around the Mediterranean Sea, but it also occurs naturally in Switzerland and southern Germany. Some writers have suggested that Box may have been introduced by the Romans, yet on the other hand it is quite usual to find a plant in small, scattered areas, on chalk or limestone soils specially suited to it, near the limit of its natural range. Evidently the Anglo-Saxons, who named these places, recognised it as something unusual. It could very easily be a relic species that naturally colonised Britain or it could also have been introduced. So it’s either native or an ancient archaeophyte considered as good as native.
Box remains a very popular ornamental plant in gardens, being particularly valued for topiary and hedges because of its small leaves, evergreen nature, tolerance of close shearing, and scented foliage.
