XLVIIL OLEACEAE: LIGU’stRUM. 629 
sa tf 1. LZ. vutea're Trag. The common Privet, 
Identification. Trag. Hist., 1005. ; Lin. Sp., 1. p. 10.; Don's Mill, 4. p. 44. 
Synonymes. L. germanicum Bauh, Hist. 475.; Prim, or Prim-print ; Troéne, Puine blanc, Fr. ; 
gemeine Rainweide, Ger. ; Ligustro Olivella, Ital. 
Derivation, This plant was anciently called prim, or print Brant from its being used for verdant 
sculptures, or topiary work, and for prinaly cut hedges. Puine blanc seems to imply a “little 
white shrub,” fron the whiteness of the blossom of the privet ; which is alluded to by Virgil and 
other poets, but which soon vanishes, and changes to brown, when exposed to the direct influence 
of the sun. The German name is combined of rain, green, and weide, a willow ; alluding to its 
being supple like the willow, and nearly evergreen, Olivella seems to signify the little olive. The 
common English name of Privet may have been given to it from its being frequently planted m 
gardens to conceal price 
Engravings. Engl. Bot., t. 764.; Baxt, Brit. Fl, PL, vol. 2. t. 119. ; and our figs. 1217. and 1218, 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, glabrous. Racemes compound, 
coarctate. The flowers are sweet-scented, white at first, but soon change 
to a reddish brown. Berries dark purple, almost black. (Don’s Mill.) 
A sub-evergreen shrub. Britain, in hedges and woody wastes. Height 6 ft. 
to 10ft. Flowers white; June and July. Berries 
dark purple ; ripe in November, remaining on all the 
winter. 
1218, 1. vulgare. 
1217. L. 
Varieties, . ; 
& L, v, 2 leucocérpum.—Berries white. 
& L. v. 3 xanthocérpum.—Berries yellow. 
x L. v, 4 chlorocarpum.—Berries green. 
2 & L. v. 5 sempervirens. L. italicum Mill., and our 
fig. 1219. ; the Italian, or evergreen, Privet. — 
“This is a most desirable variety for shrubberies ; 
and it is so distinct, that it was considered by 
Miller as a_species. ; : 
2 L. v. 6 variegdtum.— Leaves variegated with 1219. «. v. sempervirens. 
yellow. 
2 L. v. 7 angustifolium.—Leaves narrow. 
The leaves, in exposed situations, and on poor soils, are deciduous ; but in 
sheltered situations, and more especially when the plant is cultivated in gardens, 
they remain on throughout the winter. From its property of growing under the 
drip of trees, it forms a good sub-evergreen undergrowth, where the Hes ue 
holly, or the common laurel, would be too expensive, or too tedious of growth. 
The privet has been long used in the court-yards of dwelling-houses, for con- 
cealing naked walls, and preventing the eye from seeing objects or places which 
it is considered desirable to conceal from the view. It thrives well in towns 
where pit-coal is used ; and the best hedges surrounding the squares of Lon- 
don are of this shrub. It is admirably adapted for topiary work, and in Italian 
gardens, in a British climate, it forms as good a substitute for the olive, as the 
common laurel does for the orange. The privet grows best in rather a strong 
loam, somewhat moist; and it attains the largest size in an open situation ; 
but it will grow on any soil, and under the shade and drip of : deciduous trees. 
Tn British nurseries, it is almost always raised by cuttings, which not only pro- 
duce larger plants of the species in a shorter period, but continue the varieties 
with greater certainty. When plants — to be raised from seed, the berries 
$$ 
