Buxus microphylla is a species of Buxus

Buxus

Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood ....

native to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

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It is an evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...

 shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 or small tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 growing to 2–3 m tall. The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are bright green, 10–25 mm long, oval with a rounded or notched tip.

The species was first described from cultivated plants of in Japan of unknown origin; these are dwarf shrubs only growing to 1 m tall, with small leaves less than 18 mm long. Wild box plants in Japan differ somewhat, growing to 2–3 m tall with leaves up to 25 mm long; they are sometimes distinguished as Buxus microphylla var. japonica (Muell.-Arg.) Rehder & Wilson (syn. B. japonica Muell.-Arg.).

Plants from Taiwan are distinguished as Buxus microphylla var. tarokoensis S.Y.Lu & Y.P.Yang.

Plants from China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

 formerly often cited as Buxus microphylla var. sinica are now treated as a distinct species Buxus sinica.

The species is grown as an ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

 both in its native area and elsewhere in temperate regions of the world.

Buxus microphylla var. compacta (Kingsville Dwarf Boxwood) and similar cultivars are commonly used for bonsai

Bonsai

is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penjing from which the art originated, and the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese hòn non bộ...

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