Privet

Family Oleaceae. Name: the origin of the name is from the Latin word 'ligare' - to bind, which refers to the properties of the bark.

Description: the genus includes about 50 species, mainly distributed in East Asia; one occurs in Southern Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor.

Deciduous or evergreen shrubs or small trees with opposite, entire-margined leaves. Flowers are collected in terminal, paniculate inflorescences. Fruit - 1-4-seeded, drupe-like stone fruit. Valuable ornamental plants, widely used as solitary, group and border plantings, and for creating hedges. Three species have gained the greatest use in landscaping.

Occurs naturally in China, Japan and Korea. A large evergreen shrub or small tree up to 6 m high with a spreading crown. Large, up to 15 cm long, oblong-ovate leaves, dark green and glossy above and lighter beneath, from bluish- to yellow-green, with revolute margins. Flowers fragrant, nearly sessile, white, arranged in loose panicles up to 18 cm long. Flowering lasts about three months. Fruits small, dark blue, rounded or ovoid.

Grows rapidly, requires fertile, sufficiently moist soil; with insufficient moisture it loses its decorative value early.

Ornamental for its attractive evergreen leaves, fragrant flowers and prolonged flowering. In autumn it is decorated by numerous dark blue fruits. Good for alleys and street plantings, for high-stem culture, in group plantings, in tall hedges and in ornamental forms created by clipping.

Has several ornamental forms: gold-fimbriated (f. aureo-marginata) - leaves with a yellow stripe at the margin; gold-variegated (f. aureo-variegata) - with yellow-variegated leaves; and tricolour (f. tricolor) - at first with pink, then variegated leaves during development.

In natural conditions grows in southern and southwestern regions of Ukraine, northern Moldova, in the Crimean mountains and in the Caucasus, in Central and Southern Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor. Photo on the right - A. Kurlovich from the magazine "In the World of Plants".

Deciduous, densely branched shrub up to 5 m high. Leaves oblong-ovate or lanceolate, glabrous, leathery, dark green above and lighter beneath. Flowers small, white, fragrant, in dense erect panicles up to -б cm long. Blooms in the first half of summer for 20-25 days. Fruits glossy, berry-like, black drupes that persist on the shrubs until January.

In youth grows fast, fairly winter-hardy, tolerates brief temperature drops to -30°C, drought-resistant, tolerates various types of soils, grows well on soils containing lime, even endures slight salinity. Thrives in urban conditions, tolerates clipping well, forming dense, shape-retaining hedges and various figures. Propagated by seeds, root suckers, layering, hardwood and softwood cuttings. Often used as a rootstock for other privet species, lilac and olive.

One of the best shrubs for hedges, forest edges, undergrowth in groups of trees with open crowns. Excellent material for topiary. Ornamental forms are good as solitary and loosely grouped plantings. In cultivation since ancient times.

Has more than 10 ornamental forms: pyramidal (f. pyramidale), weeping (f. pendulum); glaucous (f. glaucum) and glaucous white-margined (f. glaucum albo-marginatum) - by leaf coloration; evergreen (f. sempervirens), golden (f.aureum) - see photo on the right, gold-variegated (f. aureo-variegatum), yellowish (f. lutescens) - with more intense flower coloration; silver-variegated (f. argento-marginatum) - by leaf coloration and two forms by fruit color - white-fruited and yellow-fruited (f. leucocarpa and f. xanthocarpa).

Occurs naturally in South Korea and Japan. Very close to glossy privet and often mixed with it. An evergreen shrub, but of smaller height (no more than 3-4 m), with smooth branches and a compact crown, short, leathery, dark green leaves and smaller flower inflorescences. Flowering is less prolonged. Grows more slowly than glossy privet, but is more shade-tolerant and more demanding of soil moisture. Tolerates excess lime, winter-hardy. Tolerates clipping and urban conditions well.

Used in small groups on forest edges, in hedges, solitary plantings; its standard and globe-shaped specimens are good in alleys and street plantings. In cultivation since 1845.

Has two forms: variegated (f. variegata) - with variegated-spotted leaves bordered by a white-pink stripe; and round-leaved (f. rotundifolia) - a compact shrub up to 2 m high, with short branches and broadly ovate, leathery leaves.