Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 9, 1995 TAG: 9507100021
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Boxwood grows in Asia, Europe and Africa and even has been found on the slopes of the Himalayas.
The plant's name is derived from the ancient Greeks who carved tiny, ornamental boxes from its wood.
Boxwood is reported to be the oldest known garden ornamental plant, first grown by the Egyptians around 4,000 B.C. Boxwood pollen grains estimated to be more than 7,000 years old have been found in England.
Boxwood is referred to at least twice in the Bible. In Isaiah 41:19 ("I will set in the desert the fir tree and the pine and the box tree together;") and again in Isaiah 60:13. ("The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.")
The Spanish Moors used hedges of boxwood to fence in their harems.
A table made of boxwood with a walnut top and inlaid with juniper, circa Eighth Century B.C., was discovered in 1957 in the tomb of King Midas.
George Washington had a maze of boxwood planted at Mount Vernon, his home on the Potomac in Northern Virginia where he hired a gardner to care for the plants full time.
During the Industrial Revolution the rugged but easily-carved wood of the boxwood was used as spindles in machines. That demand nearly wiped out the plant.
Sources: The American Boxwood Society's Boxwood Handbook, King James version of the Bible, The Roanoke Times
by CNB