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What is the difference between Buxus and Ilex?

T.E
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The two plants are completely unrelated, belonging to different families. Ilex is commonly known as holly - it usually has prickly, relatively large, evergreen leaves and they generally make much larger shrubs/trees than Buxus. Female plants produce berries, mostly red ones. Buxus or box is commonly used for hedging or topiary, has small, evergreen leaves and these days, is prone to several diseases/infestations. If you google both and select images, you will see how different they are.

Bamboo
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  • Not all Ilex are evergreen (Ilex verticillata for example), so that's another difference. – Jurp Nov 03 '19 at 23:39
  • I would not say Buxus is prone to several diseases/infestations. Buxus has been popular in the US since the plantation days. Those same plants still exist. Not until recently when box blight was introduced have there been any real problems. This blight is still only sporadic and shown up in every part of the N. America. One bug that likes to live on it, never does significant damage, a little and I mean little unsightly, but it is easily treatable. I can't think of any major diseases for Ilex, but it does get it's share of pest. There are Ilex that make great box alternatives. – GardenGems Nov 04 '19 at 01:25
  • @GardenGems depends where you live, its not clear where the OP is, see here https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=851 and note, left unclipped, problems are reduced. But since most people keep Box clipped, well... – Bamboo Nov 04 '19 at 12:27
  • @Jurp yea, but holly are mostly evergreen - which is why I said 'usually', didn't want to complicate things when outlining differences between the two genera – Bamboo Nov 04 '19 at 14:36
  • @Bamboo - Ah, but the OP said "Ilex" not "holly" (I. verticillata being a Winterberry of course). I see your point, but hardiness also enters into the differences, with Buxus not being particularly hardy in northern US and most of Canada and I. verticillata being native to those areas. We also have Inkberry, too. (I. glabra, I think). Ilex is a rather fascinating genus, actually. I should've mentioned hardiness in my own comment, though, to help make that clearer. – Jurp Nov 04 '19 at 14:44
  • @Jurp - Ilex verticillata is still an Ilex and the common name in the UK for that variety is either holly or, oddly, black alder, though winterberry is beginning to creep into common usage. Common names are pretty useless really, but as it happens, it seems the OP is in the UK anyway, and the question was pretty straightforward - the difference between the genera. – Bamboo Nov 04 '19 at 14:49
  • @Bamboo - the OP may be in the UK, but this site also has posters in NA and the EU, so I figured that including other Ilex would be of general interest to those posters as well. – Jurp Nov 04 '19 at 14:57
  • @Jurp I don't disagree with that in principle, as you probably know, I tend to generally take a more lateral approach to questions in most cases, but in this case, the question was simply about the difference between the two - since they are completely unrelated and serve different aesthetic and practical purposes, I chose to concentrate on that rather than filling in with lots of other detail such as hardiness, various cultivars etc.;I also did not realise when I answered where the OP actually was since its not stated in the question. – Bamboo Nov 04 '19 at 15:25
  • Do all Ilex Species grow berries? – T.E Nov 04 '19 at 15:49
  • No - only female plants, and only then if there's a male in the vicinity for fertilisation purposes, but there is a cultivar, Ilex JC Van Tol ,which is self pollinating and does produce bright red berries on its own. – Bamboo Nov 04 '19 at 17:16