Ligustrum vulgare | |
---|---|
Mature shrub in summer | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Oleaceae |
Genus: | Ligustrum |
Species: | L. vulgare
|
Binomial name | |
Ligustrum vulgare |
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]
[4]
[5]
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.[ citation needed] 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. [4] [5] [6]
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, [5] but others do not regard it as distinct. [1]
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. [5] [7] [8]
The species was used for hedging in Elizabethan gardens in England, but was superseded by the more reliably evergreen introduction L. ovalifolium from Japan. [7]
A number of cultivars have been selected, including: [5]
The species is listed as invasive as an introduced plant in Australia, [9] Canada, [10] New Zealand, [11] and the United States. [12] [13] It is also fully naturalised in Mexico's highlands [14] and Argentina. [15]
Ligustrum means 'binder'. It was named by Pliny and Virgil. [16]