I'm new to this hobby and I'm trying to ID my bonsai, but I'm finding it hard to distinguish if it's a Serissa or a Boxwood. Being inexperienced, I don't know what its confirmatory characteristics are, like how potent is a displeasing smell, or if white borders on the leaves are present on all Serissa trees, or if both species produce flowers.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

if you post a few pics you will have the answer fairly quickly.

If you crush the leaves of serissa they smell very pungent but as leatherback said a picture would be brilliant.

Zaqaree wrote:

I'm new to this hobby and I'm trying to ID my bonsai, but I'm finding it hard to distinguish if it's a Serissa or a Boxwood.

Well, if you are fairly sure that your only two options are Serissa and Boxwood here are a few pics for you to identify them by yourself. The first two correspond to Serissa and the other two match the Boxwood. Hope it helps,

Alain

I'm currently at work but I'll post pics as soon as I get a chance. And yea those tips are really helpful guys, thanks! We probably wont need pics anymore, haha!

alainleon1983 wrote:

Zaqaree wrote:

I'm new to this hobby and I'm trying to ID my bonsai, but I'm finding it hard to distinguish if it's a Serissa or a Boxwood.

Well, if you are fairly sure that your only two options are Serissa and Boxwood here are a few pics for you to identify them by yourself. The first two correspond to Serissa and the other two match the Boxwood. Hope it helps,

Alain

@Alain I appreciate the pics. I noticed though that the Boxwood leaves does not have the white border unlike the Serissa pics you've attached. Is this true for all types of Serissa and Boxwood?

Zaqaree wrote:

I noticed though that the Boxwood leaves does not have the white border unlike the Serissa pics you've attached. Is this true for all types of Serissa and Boxwood?

Nope, it is not true for all Serissa Phoetida varieties, but is rather common that the leaves are usually variegated as said here : "A small shrub from southeastern Asia, with very small leaves, little white flowers and trunks with a light bark. Some cultivars have variegated leaves. When the plant is pruned there is a displeasing smell." Oh, another way of identifying whether it is a Serissa or not is by foul smelling when crushing its bark or pruninig its branches and leaves.

As for Boxwood, yes it is true for all species as stated here : "Buxus is a genus of about 70 species of evergreen shrubs and occasionally small trees found in habitats ranging from rocky hills to woodland in Europe, Asia, Africa and Central America. The leaves of many Buxus species are very small which is an ideal attribute for bonsai. In Spring, Buxus display a show of male flowers with inconspicuous yellow anthers that surround single female flowers.

The two Buxus species that are commonly seen as Bonsai are Buxus microphylla/ Japanese Box and Buxus sempervirens/ Common Box. Outwardly both of these species are very similar, carrying elliptic, glossy, dark-green leaves to 2-3cm long. The main difference between B. sempervirens and B. microphylla is their vigour; B. sempervirens can reach eventual heights of 5metres with a spread of 5metres, B. microphylla on the other hand is very slow growing, only reaching an overall height of around 75cm with a 1.5metre spread."

alainleon1983 wrote:

As for Boxwood, yes it is true for all species as stated

Ehm.. No. Box can have fringes as well due to cold, watering or I do not know which other reasons. (See img: I have a box with fringes part of the year )

leatherback wrote:

Ehm.. No. Box can have fringes as well due to cold, watering or I do not know which other reasons. (See img: I have a box with fringes part of the year )

Ha... I stand corrected then But at least you should give me the benefit of the doubt... You´ll see, it would be rather pretentious from me if I had started questioning Harry Harrington But as your picture proves... Experience and facts beat scholar knowledge, sometimes

Hm.. in the quoted text from HH I do not see anything re. the coloring of leaves?