privets
Ligustrum
A privet is a flowering plant in the genus Ligustrum. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees, with a native distribution from Europe to tropical and subtropical Asia, and with one species each native to Australia and north Africa. Some species have become widely naturalized or invasive where introduced. Privet was originally the name for the European semi-evergreen shrub Ligustrum vulgare, and later also for the more reliably evergreen Ligustrum ovalifolium and its hybrid Ligustrum × ibolium used extensively for privacy hedging, though now the name is applied to all members of the genus. The generic name was applied by Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) to L. vulgare. It is often suggested that the name privet is related to private, but the Oxford English Dictionary states that there is no evidence to support this.
31 branches of this genus, most-observed first
Chinese privet
speciesLigustrum sinense
tree privet
speciesLigustrum lucidum
Common Privet
speciesLigustrum vulgare
border privet
speciesLigustrum obtusifolium
wax-leaf ligustrum
speciesLigustrum japonicum
garden privet
speciesLigustrum ovalifolium
Quihoui privet
speciesLigustrum quihoui
Ligustrum liukiuense
speciesLigustrum liukiuense
Ligustrum morrisonense
speciesLigustrum morrisonense
Ligustrum confusum
speciesLigustrum confusum
tree privet
speciesLigustrum robustum
Ligustrum pricei
speciesLigustrum pricei
Ligustrum microcarpum
speciesLigustrum microcarpum
Ligustrum tschonoskii
speciesLigustrum tschonoskii
Ligustrum leucanthum
speciesLigustrum leucanthum
Ligustrum lianum
speciesLigustrum lianum
Ligustrum micranthum
speciesLigustrum micranthum
Ligustrum delavayanum
speciesLigustrum delavayanum
Ligustrum sempervirens
speciesLigustrum sempervirens
Ligustrum australianum
speciesLigustrum australianum
Ligustrum minii
speciesLigustrum minii
Ligustrum ibota
speciesLigustrum ibota
Ligustrum punctifolium
speciesLigustrum punctifolium
Ligustrum strongylophyllum
speciesLigustrum strongylophyllum
Ligustrum guangdongense
speciesLigustrum guangdongense
Ligustrum tamakii
speciesLigustrum tamakii
Ligustrum obovatilimbum
speciesLigustrum obovatilimbum
Ligustrum henryi
speciesLigustrum henryi
Ligustrum salicinum
speciesLigustrum salicinum
Ligustrum glomeratum
speciesLigustrum glomeratum
Ligustrum foliosum
speciesLigustrum foliosum
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
Flora of Japan
Carl Peter Thunberg · 1784 · p.67
Notable Commentaries on the History of Plants
Leonhart Fuchs · 1549 · p.512
On Medical Materials in Six Books
Dioscorides · 1550 · p.135
De medicinali materia libri sex
Dioscorides · 1552 · p.141
On the Names of Plants
Hieronymus Bock (Tragus) · 1552 · p.1077
Commentaries on the Six Books of Dioscorides
Pietro Andrea Mattioli · 1560 · p.221
Commentaries on the Six Books of Dioscorides on Medical Matter
Pietro Andrea Mattioli · 1563 · p.221
Commentaries on the Six Books of Pedanius Dioscorides on Medical Matter
Pietro Andrea Mattioli · 1565 · p.346
A New Herbal, or History of Plants
Rembert Dodoens (trans. Henry Lyte) · 1578 · p.715
Six Groups of the History of Plants
Rembert Dodoens · 1583 · p.784
Six Groups of the History of Plants
Rembert Dodoens · 1583 · p.786
Compendium of Materia Medica
李時珍 · 1596 · p.65
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Ligustrum in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 69819.