Ligustrum vulgare

Appearance

It is a semi-evergreen or deciduous shrub, growing to 3 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 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.

Behavior

Plants from the south of the range show a stronger tendency to be fully evergreen; these have sometimes been treated as a separate variety ''Ligustrum vulgare'' var. ''italicum'' Vahl, but others do not regard it as distinct.

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 escape from cultivation.

Uses

The species was used for hedging in Elizabethan gardens in England, but was superseded by the more reliably evergreen introduction ''L. ovalifolium'' from Japan.

A number of cultivars have been selected, including:
⤷ '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 .
⤷ 'Pyramidale' – fastigiate.
⤷ 'Xanthocarpum' – berries yellow.