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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Winter Scent in Seattle – Sarcococca confusa

Sarcococca confusa flower. 

It’s that time again in Seattle where you can start catching a whiff of Sarcococca confusa. For such inconspicuous flowers (they are fairly small) they sure can project a scent. Maybe the cold air and the lack of other flower-competition enhance its olfactory punch. The common name for Sarcococca confusa is Sweet Box or Christmas Box. “Box” for the fact that it is part of the Buxaceae (or Box) family. Sarcococca originate from China. The genus name Sarcococca comes from the Latin "sarcos" for fleshy and the Greek kokkos for berry which describe the berries. (Seems to be confirmed here.)

3 comments:

  1. yes, but is it a Rohdadendrum? I have no use for anything but Rohdadendrums...and maybe moobs...

    ReplyDelete
  2. No it's not a rhodo-dendron (Greek for "red tree"). Wonder what the Greek term for moob is?

    ReplyDelete
  3. The greek term for moob is... mooobopolis.

    ReplyDelete

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