Click on images to enlarge
infestation (Photo: Rob and Fiona Richardson)
habit in flower (Photo: Trevor James)
paired leaves and branched flower clusters (Photo: Trevor James)
close-up of stem and leaves (Photo: Rob and Fiona Richardson)
flowers (Photo: Trevor James)
close-up of flower (Photo: Greg Jordan)
cluster of shiny round mature fruit (Photo: Rob and Fiona Richardson)
close-up of seeds (Photo: Steve Hurst at USDA PLANTS Database)
Scientific Name
Ligustrum vulgare L.
Family
Oleaceae
Common Names
common privet, European privet, golden privet, privet, wild privet
Origin
Native to north-western Africa (i.e. Morocco), Europe (i.e. Ireland, the UK, southern Norway, southern Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, France, Portugal, Spain, Moldova, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania and Yugoslavia) and western Asia (i.e. Turkey, north-western Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and southern Russia).
Naturalised Distribution
Widely naturalised in south-eastern Australia. It is most common in Victoria, Tasmania and south-eastern South Australia, but is also present on the tablelands of eastern New South Wales and in the cooler parts of south-eastern Queensland.
Also naturalised in southern Africa, the Azores, New Zealand, the USA and southern Canada.
Notes
European privet (Ligustrum vulgare) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, and as a potential environmental weed or "sleeper weed" in other parts of southern Australia. This species has escaped cultivation as a garden ornamental and become a weed of disturbed areas and native bushland in temperate regions. It is reported to invade lowland grassland, grassy woodlands, riparian vegetation and rocky outcrop vegetation.
In Victoria, European privet (Ligustrum vulgare) is thought to pose a serious threat to grassy woodlands, riparian vegetation and rocky outcrop vegetation. It also appears on numerous local and regional environmental weed lists in this state (e.g. in Sherbrooke Forest, the Shire of Yarra Ranges, Banyule City, Macedon Ranges Shire, Cardinia Shire, Loddon Shire, the City of Hume and the Geelong Region).
European privet (Ligustrum vulgare) is also listed as an invasive plant in bushland in the Adelaide Hills Council district, in south-eastern South Australia, and as an invasive pest plant in Latrobe Shire in Tasmania. It is also locally naturalised in the Yetman area, in the Guyra-Armidale district, and near Robertson in New South Wales.
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