The Box Tree.
Buxus.
A COMMON little shrub in our gardens, and a native of our own country, though not common in its wild state. With us it grows but to a small height; in some other parts of Europe, it is a tolerably large shrub. The bark is whitish, the wood yellow; the leaves small, roundish, smooth, of a very dark green colour, and very numerous. The flowers are small and greenish yellow; the fruit is little, round, and furnished with three points.
The wood of the box-tree, and particularly of the root, is an excellent medicine in all foulnesses of the blood; it has the same virtues with the guiacum, but in a greater degree. It is to be given in decoction not made too strong, and continued a long time. There have been instances of what were called leprosies cured entirely by this medicine. There is an oil made from it by distillation, which is good for the tooth-ach. It is to be dropped on cotton, and to be put into the tooth.
