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Ligustrum ovalifolium Hassk., Garden Privet

Account Summary

Naturalised introduction, both deliberately planted and a garden escape. Apparently rare or very rare, but possibly mis-identified as L. vulgare and therefore under-recorded.

1 July 1986; Wolfe-Murphy, S.A.; S shore of Lusty More Td, Upper Lough Erne.

April to September.

Growth form, reproduction and preferred habitats

This semi-evergreen or evergreen monoecious hedging shrub, 3 m tall, is rarely recorded in Fermanagh, but it may possibly be overlooked to some extent in favour of L. vulgare (Wild Privet). Garden Privet is a Japanese hedging species similar to Wild Privet that was introduced to cultivation around 1842 and first appeared in the wild in Britain in 1939 (T.D. Dines, in: Preston et al. 2002). Like L. vulgare, it also possesses shiny black berry fruits in late summer. However, L. ovalifolium can be distinguished through having broader, glossy, dark green ± evergreen leaves, hairless young twigs and bisexual flowers in which the fused corolla tube is longer than the spreading petal lobes. The leaves are described as '± evergreen' since considerable quantities of them are occasionally shed in prolonged cold weather.

Garden Privet forms a dense and effective screening hedge, but it is neither ornamental nor decorative, except in its less vigorous golden- or silver-leaved cultivar forms. As hedging, the species recommends itself by tolerating dry, impoverished soils where little else could survive, plus coping well with high levels of atmospheric pollution in towns and cities. It is even more stress tolerant when it comes to management, being able to survive hard clipping back at any time of year (Harris & Harris 1981; Buczacki 2007).

L. ovalifolium flowers in June and July and is pollinated by various insects. It subsequently produces fleshy drupe fruits, 6-10 mm, that turn shiny, black as they mature. Reproduction beyond the garden setting is probably mainly by seed, but hedge clippings and deliberate cuttings also root easily. In gardens, privet hedges are clipped so regularly, flowering and fruiting are generally prevented altogether.

The plant remains abundantly planted as garden hedging and it persists as naturalised relicts in old gardens. It is also common in parks, estates, amenity areas and waste places, in some of which it represents deliberated planted hedges, or rather often as established isolated bushes derived from unofficial, fly-tipped garden discards (Buczacki 2007). Solitary plants may also arise more occasionally as bird-sown seedlings, extremely rarely observed growing on walls (Green 2008; McNeill 2010).

Yellow- and silver-variegated leaved forms of L. ovalifolium are also popular garden subjects and are widely used in decorative gardening as well as for hedging. L. ovalifolium is generally preferred over L. vulgare for hedging purposes as it is the more evergreen of the two (Sell & Murrell 2007).

Fermanagh occurrence

There are a total of only eight hedgerow records in the Fermanagh Flora Database, occurring across seven tetrads. Except for the plant(s) found at Inver Bog by RHN, all are sited around the shores of Upper Lough Erne and they were identified by members of the EHS Habitat Survey Team. The remaining record details are: E shore of Lough Digh, 1 August 1986, S.J. Leach; S shore of Derryvore Td, 11 September 1986, P. Corbett & A. Farr; N shore of Derryvore Td, 11 September 1986, S.A. Wolfe-Murphy & L.W. Austin; shore of Formil Td, 12 September 1986, S.A. Wolfe-Murphy & A. Farr; hedge near Inver Bog, 9 April 1999, RHN; Drumskinny, 30 August 2003, I. McNeill; Tedd Crossroads, Raw Td, 9 September 2010, RHN & HJN.

British and Irish occurrence

From its mid-19th century introduction onwards, L. ovalifolium has been popular and widely and abundantly planted in gardens throughout the whole of lowland B & I. However, since the 1960s it tended to fall out of favour as hedging material and was replaced to a considerable extent by conifers, which have now also ± run the course of their popularity. L. ovalifolium is frequent and widespread across England and Wales as far north as Carlisle and Newcastle-upon-Tyne; it has a similar presence in Scotland across the central belt urban areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh with a thinning presence elsewhere and becoming increasingly coastal northwards in Scotland (New Atlas).

In Ireland, Garden Privet is rather more thinly and widely scattered and appears less obviously urban than it does in Britain. In its Irish sites, it is nearly always deliberately planted and is only very occasionally believed to be bird-sown (Cat Alien Pl Ir). However, it is recognised that isolated plants must either be bird-sown or the result of discarded garden hedge material or trimmings.

Toxicity

All the aerial parts of the species, but especially the berries, contain the poisonous glycoside, ligustrin. This plant toxin is so powerful it can kill a horse and should always be regarded as potentially dangerous. This adequately explains why such a common garden hedging species is only very occasionally found along rural field margins. Privet can also cause dermatitis and some unfortunate individuals can suffer severe skin reactions when clipping hedges (Cooper & Johnson 1998).

Names

See the account on this website for Ligustrum vulgare for derivation of names. The Latin specific epithet 'ovalifolium' means 'oval leaved', which does not adequately distinguish between the two privet species in the opinion of the current author (RSF).

Threats

None.