Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Ligustrum vulgare
Common name
European Privet
Family
Oleaceae
Where found
Native bushland, woodland, grassy areas, disturbed areas, rocky sites, and along streams. Sydney area, tablelands, and Canberra. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced shrub to about 5 m high, deciduous or partly deciduous. Fruit fleshy. Bark smooth. Stems finely hairy when young. Older stems with white lenticels. Leaves opposite each other, 2–6 cm long, 8–25 mm wide, surfaces hairless, green, shiny. Flowers strongly scented with a pungent smell that many people find unpleasant. Flowers white or cream with white anthers, 1–5 mm long, tubular, with 4 lobes 1.5–5 mm long. Flowers in dense branched clusters 3–8 cm long. Flowers spring. Fruit shiny blue-black to black when ripe, oval to round, 3–10 mm long. Some varieties have green, white or yellow fruit when ripe.
General Biosecurity Duty all NSW. General Biosecurity Duty with additional restrictions in the Central Tablelands, NSW.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Ligustrum~vulgare (accessed 22 January, 2021)
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