295 



THE PRIVET. 



LlGUSTRUM VULGAKE. 



Natural Order OLEACE^:. 



Class DIANDBIA. Order MoNOGYNIA. 



THE Privet would scarcely be considered entitled to 

 a place among Forest Trees were it not for its being 

 frequently associated in hedges with the Hawthorn, a tree 

 which requires no apologist. Being, too, what may be 

 called a half-evergreen, it possesses a sort of claim on 

 our notice. In its usual state it is a thick bush, with 

 numerous wiry stems, and smooth, somewhat fleshy leaves, 

 shaped like those of the myrtle. In June it bears at 

 the extremities of the shoots pyramidal clusters of white 

 flowers, which have a sweet but sickly odour, and soon 

 change to a reddish-brown colour. The berries, which 

 ripen in profusion, are black, and remain attached to the 

 tree until almost every other kind of berry has disap 

 peared, when, as we may infer from their being left so long 

 untouched, they afford an unsavoury banquet to hungry 

 birds. In sheltered situations the leaves remain attached 

 to the plant during all the winter ; but where the tree' is 

 much exposed, it is stripped, at the fall of the year, of 

 everything but its clusters of dark fruit, which are some- 

 times so numerous as to be very conspicuous. 



The Privet is commonly employed, either alone or in 

 conjunction with the Hawthorn, in the formation of hedges. 

 Being very patient of the drip of trees, it is also often 

 planted in shrubberies, to produce thickness of under- 

 growth ; and, from its indifference to the presence of coal- 

 smoke, it is extensively used in the squares of large cities. 



Loudon states that a pink and a green dye may be pre- 

 pared from the berries of the Privet, and that they also 

 furnish, on pressure, a mild oil, which may be used for 



