LIGCSTKrM. [class. 11, order I. 



CLASS II. 

 DIANDKIA. 2 Stamens. 



ORDER I. 



MONOGYN'IA. 1 Pistil. 



GENUS I. LIGUS'TRUM. Privei. 



Nat. Ord. Ol'eace^. 



Gen. Char. Penan th doiMe. Calyx inferior, ol' one leaf, with four 

 bluntish projecting teeth. Corolla of one petal, regular, in four 

 segments. Berry of two cells, with two seeds in each. Name 

 from ligo, to hind ; from its tough and pliant branches heing used 

 in making hands. 



1. L. vulgar' e,{Yig. A.) common Privet. Leaves clliptico-lanceolate, 

 flowers in dense panicles. 



English Botany, t. 764. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 13.— Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 171. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 4. 



Shrub six or eight feet high, with terminal panicles of odoriferous 

 white flowers. Barh smoothish, often sprinkled with numerous brown 

 oval spots (Lenticular glands), which indicate the point from whence 

 rootswould appear, if placed in a favourable situation for thcirproduction. 

 Wood tough and flexible. Leaves on short footstalks (petiolex) \ arying 

 from long and narrow to nearly round, opposite and alternate. Calyx 

 and pedicle somewhat hairy, with short deciduous hractea. Corolla 

 white, incurved at the edges, longer than the calyx, turning brown before 

 falling. Stamens opposite, alternate with the segments of the corolla. 

 Style short. Berry blackish-purple or yellow, round and pul])y. 



Habitat. — Hedges and thickets in shady situations ; common. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



Privet. — Prim-privet is an ornamental and useful shrub. It is 

 often planted with advantage in Beech (Fagus Sylvaiica) and Horn- 

 beam (Carpinus Betulus) hedges, in a stifi" clay soil ; in such situa- 

 tions it sometimes attains the height of sixteen feet. In moist ground, 

 when partially shadcl, its long flexUdc branches form an impenetrable 

 undcrgrowtli, well adapted for covers in game preserves, \-c. The 

 berries arc harmless, and arc fed on by pheasants, partridges, and other 

 birds. It is remarkably patient of the shears, and is sometimes cut 

 into singularly fantastic forms; and is one of the few plants (hat will 

 grow under the shade and diip of trees, and contined smoky situ- 

 ations, for which reason it is common even in the close parts of large 



