Botanical art
Common names
Sea box
Dysentery Bush
Etymology
Alyxia from the Greek 'alysis' meaning a chain or an escape, may refer to the chain fruit or indicate the remote areas in which it was found. Buxifolia from 'buxus', the genus of ancient box tree and the Latin 'folium' meaning leaf, referring to the species having leaves like the boxwood.
Distribution and status
Found mainly in coastal regions of South Australia but can be inland on Eyre Peninsula and Yorke Peninsula. Also found in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Nullarbor, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Dense perennial shrub to 2 m tall but on the coast, often stunted to less than 50 cm, with thick, smooth, green and shiny lance-shaped leaves arranged opposite to each other. Flowers are white and tubular, with five petals arranged almost at right angles to each other. Flowering between October and February. Fruits are round fleshy orange or red berries to 10 mm across. Seeds are yellow woody, round to 5 mm across.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between December and April. Collect berries that are red or turning red. Place the fruits in a bucket of water and rub the flesh off the fruits with your hands then rinse and drain leaving just the clean seeds behind. Place the seeds on paper towels and leave to dry overnight. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. Seed viability is usually high. This species has a combination of physical (hard seed coat) and physiological dormancies that needs to be overcome for the seed to germinate.
| Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BGA | 1,300 (50.9 g) | 50+ | 7-Mar-2006 | DJD426 Yorke Peninsula | 28-Jul-2006 | 80% | -18°C |
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.