FAMILY: OLEACEAE

ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: common privet

LEAVES: opposite, simple, tardily deciduous; blades oval, ca. 1-1.5” long, margins entire and crisped (wavy in the vertical plane), blade surfaces dull green

FLOWER: flowers white to yellowish, in showy panicles in spring, very fragrant

FRUIT: ellipsoid dull black drupes to ca. 0.3” long

TWIGS: orange-brown, densely pubescent with spreading hairs; with raised tan lenticels

BARK: smooth, light mottled gray to brownish-gray

FORM: large shrub to small tree, typically with multiple stems, to ca. 20’ tall

HABITAT: moist forests, abundant on edges, fence rows, old fields; can invade mesic pine grasslands in the absence of fire

WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative (FAC): Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region

RANGE: Native to China, introduced in southeast US; invasive! [MAP]  [MAP]

USES: ornamental, hedges

Best Recognition Features:

1. multi-stemmed shrub to small tree of mesic sites
2. leaves opposite, oval, dull green, margins crisped
3. dull black drupes in panicles
4. fragrant white flowers in showy panicles in spring

NOTES: the difference between Ligustrum vulgare (anthers same length as petals, twigs lightly pubescent) and Ligustrum sinense vulgare (anthers length longer than petals, twigs very pubescent) is of debate; sometimes treated as synonyms of each other