Ligustrum vulgare explained

Ligustrum vulgare (wild privet, also sometimes known as common privet or European privet) is a species of Ligustrum native to central and southern Europe, north Africa and southwestern Asia, from Ireland and southwestern Sweden south to Morocco, and east to Poland and northwestern Iran.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Description

It is a semi-evergreen or deciduous shrub, growing to 3 m (rarely up to 5 m) tall. The stems are stiff, erect, with grey-brown bark spotted with small brown lenticels. The leaves are borne in decussate opposite pairs, sub-shiny green, narrow oval to lanceolate, 2–6 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm broad. The flowers are produced in mid-summer in panicles 3–6 cm long, each flower creamy-white, with a tubular base and a four-lobed corolla ('petals') 4–6 mm diameter. The flowers produce a strong, pungent fragrance that many people find unpleasant. The fruit is a small glossy black berry 6–8 mm diameter, containing one to four seeds. The berries are poisonous to humans but readily eaten by thrushes, which disperse the seeds in their droppings.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Plants from the warmer parts of the range show a stronger tendency to be fully evergreen; these have sometimes been treated as a separate variety Ligustrum vulgare var. italicum (Mill.) Vahl,^[3] but others do not regard it as distinct.^[1]

Cultivation and uses

In the British Isles it is the only native privet, common in hedgerows and woodlands in southern England and Wales, especially in chalk areas; it is less common in northern England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, where it only occurs as an escapee from cultivation.^{[3] [5] [6]}

The species was used for hedging in Elizabethan gardens in England, but was superseded by the more reliably evergreen introduction L. ovalifolium from Japan.^[5]

A number of cultivars have been selected, including:^[3]

• 'Aureum' – yellow leaves.
• 'Buxifolium' – small, oval leaves not over 2.5 cm long.
• 'Cheyenne' – cold-tolerant clone selected in North America.
• 'Chlorocarpum' - berries green.
• 'Insulense' – long, narrow leaves 5–11 cm long and 1-2.5 cm broad.
• 'Leucocarpum' – berries greenish-white.
• 'Lodense' – dense, dwarf shrub (the name is a portmanteau of 'low' and 'dense').
• 'Pyramidale' – fastigiate.
• 'Xanthocarpum' – berries yellow.

Invasiveness

See main article: article and Privet as an invasive plant. The species is listed as invasive as an introduced plant in Australia,^[7] Canada,^[8] New Zealand,^[9] and the United States.^{[10] [11]} It is also fully naturalised in Mexico's highlands^[12] and Argentina.^[13]

Etymology

Ligustrum means 'binder'. It was named by Pliny and Virgil.^[14]

See also

• Privet as an invasive plant

Notes and References

1. Flora Europaea: Ligustrum vulgare
2. Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe.
3. Bean, W. J. (1978). Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles vol. 2: 576–577. .
4. Flora of Northwest Europe: Ligustrum vulgare
5. The Reader's Digest Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain p. 52.
6. Flora of Northern Ireland: Ligustrum vulgare
7. https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/weeds/publications/books/pubs/potential.pdf Potential Environmental Weeds in Australia
8. Canadian Botanical Conservation Network: Information on Invasive Shrub and Vine Species
9. Protecting and Restoring our Natural Heritage: Appendix one: Invasive weeds
10. Book: Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas, 4th Edition . Swearingen . Jil . Reshetiloff . K. . Slattery . B . Zwicker . S. . 2010 . National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service . 71.
11. Invasive species: European privet
12. Plantas medicinales. Virtudes insospechadas de plantas conocidas. 1987. Reader's Digest México S.A. de C.V. Printed by Gráficas Monte Albán S.A. de C.V. Querétaro, Mexico.
13. Web site: Gavier-Pizarro, Gregorio I.; Kuemmerle, Tobias; Hoyos, Laura E.; Stewart, Susan I.; Huebner, Cynthia D.; Keuler, Nicholas S.; Radeloff, Volker C. 2012. Monitoring the invasion of an exotic tree (Ligustrum lucidum) from 1983 to 2006 with Landsat TM/ETM+ satellite data and support vector machines in Cordoba, Argentina. Remote Sensing of Environment. 122: 134-145. . 2014-04-27 . 2020-10-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201031174642/http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/42495 . dead .
14. Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). p 237