| SOURCE:
The following information on this species is taken from Non-native Invasive
Plants of Southern Forests: a field guide for identification and control, by
James H. Miller, Chinese and European Privet,
http://www.invasive.org/eastern/srs/CP_EP.html. Modifications include
additional pictures (from IPANE, http://invasives.eeb.uconn.edu/ipane/)
and resource information. Check the website links for future updates. The last
update for this information was in 2003. |
DESCRIPTION:
Semi-evergreen to evergreen, thicket-forming shrubs to 30 feet (9 m) in height
that are multiple stemmed and leaning-to-arching with long leafy branches.
Essentially indistinguishable except at flowering. Chinese privet is the most
widely occurring in the south.
Stem - Opposite or whorled, long slender branching
that increases upward with twigs projecting outward at near right angles.
Brownish gray turning gray green and short hairy (rusty or grayish) with light
dots (lenticels). Leaf scars semicircular with one bundle scar. Bark brownish
gray to gray and slightly rough (not fissured).
Leaves - Opposite in two rows at near right angle to stem, ovate to elliptic
with rounded tip (often minutely indented), 0.8 to 1.6 inches (2 to 4 cm) long
and 0.4 to 1.2 inches (1 to 3 cm) wide. Margins entire. Lustrous green above
and pale green with hairy midvein beneath (European privet not hairy beneath).
Petioles 0.04 to 0.2 inch (1 to 5 mm) long, rusty hairy. Leaves usually
persistent during winter.
Flowers - April to June. Abundant, terminal and upper axillary clusters on
short branches forming panicles of white flowers. Corolla four-lobed, tube 0.06
to 0.1 inch (1.5 to 2 mm) long and equal or shorter than the lobes, with
stamens extending from the corolla on Chinese privet and within the corolla on
European privet. Fragrant.
Fruit and seeds - July to March. Dense ovoid drupes hanging or projecting
outward, 0.2 to 0.3 inch (6 to 8 mm) long and 0.16 inch (4 mm) wide, containing
one to four seeds. Pale green in summer ripening to dark purple a nd appe aring
almost black in late fall to winter.
ECOLOGY:
Aggressive and troublesome invasives, often forming dense thickets,
particularly in bottom-land forests and along fencerows, thus gaining access to
forests, fields, and right-of-ways. Shade tolerant. Colonize by root sprouts
and spread widely by abundant bird- and other animal-dispersed seeds.
SIMILAR SPECIES:
Japanese privet, L. japonicum Thunb., which has larger leaves and is further described in
this book. Also resemble upland swampprivet, Forestiera ligustrina (Michx.)
Poir., which occurs mainly on rocky sites and has short twigs and sparse
flowers and fruit.
HISTORY AND
USE: Introduced from China and Europe in the early to mid-1800s. Traditional southern
ornamentals. Deer browse Chinese privet sprouts.
AUTHORS: James
H. Miller, USDA Forest Service
For more information
on common privet or other invasive privets, please contact:
Invasive Plant Atlas of New England,
http://invasives.eeb.uconn.edu/ipane/
Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant Council, Inc., http://www.ma-eppc.org
National Invasive Species Information Center,
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov
Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas,
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/
Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council; Invasive Plant Manual,
http://www.se-eppc.org/manual/
The Bugwood Network, MA-EPPC Invasive Plant List,
http://www.invasive.org/maweeds.cfm
The Nature Conservancy Invasive Species Initiative,
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/esadocs.html
USDA Forest Service, Nonnative Invasive Plants of Southern Forests,
http://www.invasive.org/eastern/srs/
USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area, Invasive Plants-Weeds of the Week,
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/invasive_plants/weeds/
USDA - NRCS PLANTS Database, http://plants.usda.gov/
Management and
Control Information
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