Pachysandra

Pachysandra is a genus of four or five species of evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...

 groundcover

Groundcover

Groundcover refers to any plant that grows over an area of ground, used to provide protection from erosion and drought, and to improve its aesthetic appearance .- Ecosystem :...

s or subshrub

Subshrub

A subshrub or dwarf shrub is a short woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a similar term.It is distinguished from a shrub by its ground-hugging stems and lower height, with overwintering perennial woody growth typically less than 10–20 cm tall, or by being only weakly woody and/or persisting...

s, belonging to the Boxwood Family, Buxaceae

Buxaceae

Buxaceae are a small family of four or five genera and about 90-120 species of flowering plants. They are shrubs and small trees, with a cosmopolitan distribution...

. The species are native to eastern Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and southeast North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, some reaching a height of 20-45 cm, with only weakly wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

y stems. The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are alternate, leathery, with an entire to coarsely toothed margin, and range from 5-10 cm long.
Species

• Pachysandra axillaris - China
  China
  Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
  
  
• Pachysandra procumbens
  Pachysandra procumbens
  Pachysandra procumbens is a flowering plant in the family Buxaceae, native to southeast United States from West Virginia and Kentucky south to Florida, and west to Louisiana. The name Allegheny is sometimes spelled Alleghany.It is an evergreen subshrub, growing to at most 30 cm high, usually less...
  
  - Allegheny Pachysandra (southeast United States
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
  )
• Pachysandra coriacea (sometimes classified as Sarcococca
  Sarcococca
  Sarcococca, Sweet box, or Christmas box is a genus of 16-20 species of flowering plants in the family Buxaceae, native to eastern and southeastern Asia and the Himalaya. They are slow-growing evergreen shrubs 1-2 m tall. The leaves are borne alternately, 3-12 cm long and 1-4 cm broad. They bear...
  
   coriacea) - India, Nepal, Myanmar
• Pachysandra stylosa - China
  China
  Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
  
   (sometimes treated as a variety of P. axillaris)
• Pachysandra terminalis
  Pachysandra terminalis
  Pachysandra terminalis is a plant in the boxwood family, Buxaceae.-Description:Pachysandra terminalis is a slow growing groundcover with alternate, simple leaves, and creeping stems. The flowers are white, borne in late March and throughout the month of April. It is evergreen but the leaves may...
  
  - China
  China
  Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
  
  , Japan
  Japan
  Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
  
  

Source:

Cultivation and uses

Pachysandra can grow in deep-shade areas and is thus well-suited and popular as a ground cover for shade gardens. The most commonly used species is P. terminalis, the Japanese Spurge, which is an aggressively spreading evergreen ground cover. The form 'Variegata' has leaves attractively variegated green and creamy white, and is slightly less invasive. All species in this genus prefer a well-drained soil with a high humus content.