LIGUSTRUM 29 



young, are covered with a dense, minute down. Leaves nearly round, broadly 

 oval or ovate, A to $ in. long, often ending in a short abrupt tip ; of firm 

 texture, dark glossy green ; margins slightly recurved ; stalk ^ in. long. 

 Flowers white, in. diameter, produced during July in a terminal pyramidal 

 panicle, 2 to 4 ins. high and as much wide at the base. Corolla tube in. 

 long ; lobes pointed, ^ in. or less long. 



Native of China ; introduced by Maries for Messrs Veitch in 1879. Maries 

 no doubt collected it in tlie Yangtze Kiang valley, about Ichang, where it 

 was afterwards found by Henry. It is an elegant privet, and its numerous, 

 small, almost round leaves give it a distinct appearance. But it is not very 

 hardy, and at Kew has only flowered satisfactorily on a south wall. 



L. VULGARE, Lmnceus. COMMON PRIVET. 



A deciduous or more or less evergreen shrub, 6 to 10 ft. high, of rather 

 lax habit ; young shoots covered with minute down. Leaves narrowly oval or 

 lance-shaped, I to 2^ ins. long, J to in. wide, smooth. Flowers dull white, 

 produced during June and July on erect compact panicles i to 2 ins. long, 

 terminating the twigs ; they have a heavy odour objectionable to most people. 

 Fruit globose or egg-shaped, black. 



Native of Europe, including Britain, where it is considered wild from 

 Yorkshire southwards. The common privet may nowadays be regarded 

 almost as the Cinderella among shrubs. It is relegated to dark corners and 

 other damp out-of-the-way places under the drip of trees, where scarcely 

 anything else will grow. But one can scarcely wish it a better fate. With 

 so many beautiful things available the privet is not needed ; even in its own 

 genus it is about the least attractive, and for hedges is now superseded by 

 the oval-leaved species. Its flowers are under suspicion of producing a kind 

 of hay-fever. The berries are eaten, by birds. 



Var. AUREUM. A worthless yellow-variegated form. 



Var. BUXIFOLIUM. Leaves oval, scarcely I in. long ; habit dense. 



Var. GLAUCUM. Leaves of a grey-green tint, not sufficiently marked to 

 give it any value. 



Var. ITALICUM (sempervirens). A more regularly evergreen shrub than 

 the type. 



Besides the ordinary form with black berries, three others, differing in 

 the.ir fruits, are, or have been, in cultivation : CHLOROCARPUM, green-berried ; 

 LEUCOCARPUM, white-berried ; and XANTHOCARPUM, yellow-berried. 



Allied to the common privet is L. INSULARE, Decaisne, a species of 

 unknown origin with linear-oblong leaves 2 to 4^ ins. long, J to I in. wide, 

 taper-pointed ; young shoots velvety-downy. Flowers in a panicle 3 ins. long 

 and broad ; fruit roundish oblong, in. long, black. 



L. YUNNANENSE, L. Henry. YUNNAN PRIVET. 



A deciduous, sometimes partially evergreen shrub, 10 to 15 ft. high, of open, 

 vigorous habit ; branches spreading or somewhat pendent, slightly warted, 

 and at first clothed with a very minute down, which mostly falls away by the 

 end of the year. Leaves oval lance-shaped, tapering at both ends ; 3 to 6 ins. 

 long, about one-third as wide ; smooth. Flowers creamy white with an odour 

 like common privet, produced in July in numerous terminal panicles 6 or 7 ins. 

 high, and the same or more wide at the base. Fruit |- in. long, rounded at 

 the top, covered with purple bloom at first, then black. 



Native of Yunnan, China ; introduced to France by the Abbe Delavay, 

 who sent seeds to the Jardin des Plantes at Paris in 1888. The plants raised 

 from them flowered in 1902. In its general aspect it is very like L. lucidum 

 vaf. Alivoni ; but it flowers before that privet does, and regularly sets its fruit. 

 It is also nearly deciduous. 



