Sarcococca orientalis Open House and have not met with

and have not met with it anywhere else in the South since

Like others in the genus

so common was the use of the aromatic leaves as a seasoning and a tea

The bark is smooth and gray

This very rare conifer is native to a very limited area on the Apalachicola River in northwest Florida and adjacent Georgia where it is now almost extinct

Sarcococca orientalis Open House and have not met withSarcococca orientalis is a fragrant, uncommon sweet box from China, a compact evergreen of the boxwood family grown, like its kin, for a winter perfume far larger than the flowers that carry it. In late winter small white flowers open along the stems, modest to the eye but richly and sweetly scented, filling a still, mild day with fragrance and giving the shade garden a lift when little else stirs. The plant builds a neat, rounded mound of glossy,