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Chinese Privet / European Privet

Ligustrum sinense and L. vulgare

Plant: Chinese privet and European privet are essentially indistinguishable except at flowering, with Chinese privet being the most widely occurring. Both thicket-forming shrubs, semi-evergreen, to 30 ft (9 m) tall, soft woody, multi-stemmed with long leafy branches, from rootsprouts and seeds.

Stem: Opposite or whorled branched, branching increasing upward, twigs long slender and projecting outward at near right-angles, brownish gray and short hairy (rusty or grayish) with light dots (lenticels), becoming gray-green, leaf scars raised half-round with 1 bundle scar, bark brownish-gray to gray and slightly rough (not fissured).

Leaves: Opposite in 2 rows at near right-angle to stem, semi-evergreen (most leaves persist during winter), ovate to elliptic, 0.8-1.6 in (2-4 cm) long and 0.4-1.2 in (1-3 cm) wide, rounded tip (tip often minutely indented), lustrous green above and pale green with hairy midvein beneath (European privet not hairy beneath), petioles 0.06-0.1 in (1-5 mm) long, rusty hairy.
May (J. Miller)

October (T. Bodner)

Flowers: Apr-Jun. Abundant, terminal and upper axillary clusters on short branches forming panicles, white, fragrant, corolla 4-lobed, tube 0.06-0.1 in (1.5-3 mm) long, equal or shorter than the lobes, stamens extend from corolla with Chinese privet and within the corolla with European privet.

Fruit and seeds: Oct-Feb. Ovoid drupe, 0.2-0.5 in (6-7 mm) long and 0.16 in (4 mm) wide, pale green ripening to dark purple appearing almost black, hanging or projecting in dense clusters.

Ecology: Aggressive and troublesome exotics in most areas. Often forming dense thickets, particularly in bottomland forests, common fencerow shrubs, thus gaining access to forests, fields, and rights-of-way, colonize by rootsprouting and abundant seed production, spread by abundant seeds dispersed widely by birds and other animals.

Resembles Japanese privet (Ligustrum japonicum) which has larger leaves (see description).

Exotic Pest Plant Control Recommendations

Bayer International Code(s) - LISI / LIVU
FIA Code - 2103

May (T. Bodner) August (T. Bodner)


January (J. Miller) September (J. Miller)


September (J. Miller) May (J. Miller)


April (J. Miller) States with suspected Chinese
Privet infestations are shown in gray.*

* USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. February 5, 2002.
States with suspected European
Privet infestations are shown in red.*
line
USDA Forest ServiceUSDA APHIS PPQ The Bugwood Network University of Georgia Invasive.org is a joint project of
The Bugwood Network, USDA Forest Service & USDA APHIS PPQ.
The University of Georgia - Warnell School of Forest Resources and
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Dept. of Entomology
Last updated on Friday, June 13, 2008 at 02:41 PM
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