Sarcococca confusa seed

LATIN NAME: SARCOCOCCA CONFUSA

COMMON NAME: Sweet Box

The sweet box wafts the small, creamy-white flowers through the winter, the glossy, dark-green leaves holding the dense, evergreen cover, and the whole plant carrying the quiet, scented look of the shade-loving shrubs. The tiny flowers open in the clusters at the leaf axils, each with the strong, sweet, vanilla scent that carries across the winter garden, and the black fruits follow in the summer. The bush keeps the compact, rounded habit, and it stands the deep shade and the dry, shady corners well. It likes the shade, and the moist, well-drained, leafy soil.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

In the box family, the sweet box has earned a small but devoted place in the fragrance research. The studies cover the flowering chemistry that produces the winter perfume, along with the seed biology and the way the plant grows in the deep shade. The horticulturists value the winter scent, the ecologists note the evergreen cover for the birds, and the growers of the scented, shade-loving shrubs keep the species in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the darkest corner of the garden, the sweet box perfumes the winter walk. The creamy flowers carry the strong, vanilla scent across the cold months, the glossy leaves hold the dense, green cover through the year, and the black fruits feed the birds through the summer. It asks for nothing but the leafy, moist soil. Quiet, scented and dependable.

The sweet box seeds germinate in a fine, gritty mix kept moist in the shaded spot. The seedlings are slow but sure, and they grow on with the glossy, evergreen leaves. Keep them in the shade with the leafy, moist soil, and give them the sheltered corner away from the drying wind. They settle well under the trees and against the north walls. The winter scent comes within the few years.

To grow the sweet box from seed, sow the small, black seeds thinly into the shallow pot of fine, gritty mix, then cover them lightly, keep the pot in the bright, shaded spot and water gently. The seedlings break through within a few weeks, and they grow on steadily. Settle the young shrubs in the shaded, leafy ground, and the winter scent will waft through the garden over the years.

A delightful evergreen very hardy plant. Its origins are not clear but is believed to have been introduced from China at the beginning of the 20th century. A medium growing, fairly dense upright plant with small ovate leaves tapered at the end, it produces masses of tiny white flowers clustered around the leaf axils in late winter which are followed by glossy black berries. Out of interest, the male flowers are the visible ones, the female flowers are in the same clusters but tiny.