Paxistima myrsinites

Paxistima myrsinites (Oregon boxleaf, Oregon boxwood, mountain lover, box, or hedge, false box, myrtle box leaf; syn. Pachistima myrsinites)[1] is a species of shrub in the family Celastraceae. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to northern Mexico to the Rocky Mountains, where it grows in forests, often in the understory.

Paxistima myrsinites
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Celastrales
Family: Celastraceae
Genus: Paxistima
Species:
P. myrsinites
Binomial name
Paxistima myrsinites

Description

Paxistima myrsinites is a low prostrate or spreading evergreen shrub growing to a meter in maximum height. The stems have many four-angled branches lined with oppositely arranged oval leaves roughly 1 to 3 centimeters long. The leaves are thick, leathery, toothed, and pointed or round-tipped. They are light green when new and shiny dark green when mature. Blossoming occurs from June to August.[1] The inflorescences occur in the leaf axils, where there appears a single flower or cluster of up to three. The small flat flower has four dark red oval petals about a millimeter long. The fruit is an oblong capsule under a centimeter long containing usually one seed in each of its two valves. The seed is dark and shiny and partly covered in a white aril. The shrub reproduces via seed, but it can also be propagated with cuttings.[2]

Ecology

The wild shrub is a good food source for wild animals such as elk, moose, which browse its evergreen leaves in the winter,[1] and grouse.[2]

Uses

Paxistima myrsinites has been utilized by Native American groups for various medicinal and ceremonial uses.[3]

gollark: And> it’s not just democrats who judge based on someone’s backgroundseems to imply you don't like Democrats for some reason?
gollark: I'm not really sure what other inferences I can reasonably make, but I assume you're between 13 and 18 or so given the general demographics here.
gollark: Also, I think you accidentally at least heavily implied you're in the US!
gollark: Everyone knows you need AT LEAST three dimensions.
gollark: one-dimensional political spectrum: too reductive.

References
  1. Stewart, Charles (1994). Wildflowers of the Olympics and Cascades. Sequim, Washington: Nature Education Enterprises. pp. 118. ISBN 0-9621104-2-6.
  3. Ethnobotany
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