This paper considers the problem of interpolation on a semi-plane grid from a space of box-splines on the three-direction mesh. Building on a new treatment of univariate semi-cardinal interpolation for natural cubic splines, the solution is obtained as a Lagrange series with suitable localization and polynomial reproduction properties. It is proved that the extension of the natural boundary conditions to box-spline semi-cardinal interpolation attains half of the approximation order of the cardinal case. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.