Sarcococca ruscifolia

Common name: Fragrant sarcococca; sweet box
Plant type: Broadleaf evergreen shrub
Flower color: White
Bloom period: January-February
Fragrance: Intensely sweet
Height: 3 feet
Hardiness: Zones 7b-9a
Light needs: Part to full shade
Moisture needs: average
Seasonal character: Lustrous evergreen foliage; intensely fragrant winter flowers

This time of year (mid-January), a piercingly sweet fragrance wafts out of Parc Monceau near my home. I can detect wafts of it all the way out on the busy Boulevard de Courcelles which bounds the park on its north side. When I first caught this scent on the breeze last year, I lost no time in tracking down its source. I'd never smelled anything so wonderful.

This powerful fragrance turned out to be from the miniscule white flowers pictured above--the blossoms of sweet box (Sarcococca ruscifolia). Because I had never lived in a region where sweet box could be grown, I at first thought it must be a sweet olive (Osmanthus fragrans), which I once detected in a greenhouse had a similarly heavenly fragrance. Yet something seemed out of place, and indeed, when I compared the flowers of the Monceau plant with a photo of those of sweet olive, I realized that although both have tiny white flowers, this was definitely not sweet olive. A chat with the director of horticulture in my local park set me straight. This siren of perfume was sweet box, or Sarcococca ruscifolia, he told me, pronouncing it the staccato French way, with every syllable equally accented.
If you live in the South or on the west coast, and have a shady area, this compact-growing shrub needs to be in your garden. Thickly clothed with leathery, lustrous, deep green leaves right to the ground, sweet box needs at least part shade and is happy even in deep shade. How many shrubs can claim that? Sweet box is the answer for those troublesome shady places to dark for grass. In the photo at left, it's growing around the feet of a big horsechestnut, and shade doesn't get any deeper than that.

Besides its evergreen foliage, obviously this plant's big attraction is its incredible perfume. You can hardly imagine that so much fragrance could come from blossoms that you practically need a magnifying glass to see. They don't even have visible petals, as the main photo shows, just a cluster of 4 perfume-packed pistils. The power of its scent means you should plant sweet box where you can enjoy its fragrance often--perhaps near the front door or along a drive where you get out of the car.

Sweet box's flowers are followed by fairly large (about 1/3 inch) glossy, deep red fruits held closely in the leaf axils. I can't find any information on this, but I suspect that the berries may be toxic, as last year's crop was still on the shrubs this year at bloom time. That seems to indicate that birds leave them alone.

Sweet box is a shrub that's sure to cause amazement among and lots of questions from your friends, who won't be able to help but notice the scent when they visit. You know the painting of the goddess of Spring by Botticelli? This must be the perfume that she leaves in her wake as she passes through.

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