LIGUSTBUM 



LILAC AND OLIVE OBDEB 



LIGUSTRUM 643 



Privets are easily grown in any ordinary 

 soil, but prefer a deep loam. Owing to 

 their very smooth shining leaves being 

 easily cleansed of dirt by the rain, the 

 plants are useful for shrubberies near 

 ■smoky towns. They are propagated by 

 seeds sown in spring or the following 

 autumn, after having been mixed and 

 •cleansed from pulp in sand. A better 

 way, however, is to root cuttings of the 

 green or ripened shoots in sandy soil 

 under handlights or cold frames during 

 the summer and autumn. The branches 

 nearer the ground may also be layered 

 during the same season. When grown 

 ^s hedges, the plants are best clipped 

 about September or October, and although 

 they may look bare for a time, they will 

 make beautiful green hedges by spring. 



L. coriaceum. — This is a distinct 

 Japanese plant rarely exceeding 3-4 ft. 

 in height, and having blunt ovate-oblong 

 •or roundish deep glossy green leathery 

 leaves, and greenish-white flowers in 

 summer. There is a variety called volu- 

 tum in which the leaves are somewhat 

 rolled up. A good rook plant. 



Culture dc. as above. 



L. Ibota (L. amurense). — A pretty 

 compact-growing Japanese shrub about 

 3 ft. high, with slender, twiggy branches, 

 ■and bluntly ovate or eUiptie, rarely 

 lance-shaped leaves, the midribs of which 

 are hairy on the under side. Flowers in 

 summer, white, salver-shaped, freely pro- 

 duced in spikes. 



Culture da. as above. 



L. japonicum {L. 'glahrum ; L. Keller- 

 manni ; L.Sieboldi; L.syringceflorzim). 

 A beautiful strong-growing Japanese 

 Privet 6-8 ft. high, having oblong-ovate 

 rather pointed glossy green leaves, and 

 large clusters of white and slightly 

 perfumed flowers in June. The variety 

 macrophyllum is recognised by its larger 

 and broader leaves, and variegatuin by 

 the leaves being edged and marbled with 

 silvery-white. 



This makes a splendid hedge, being 

 &r stronger and more ornamental looking 

 than the common British Privet. The 

 young growths are of a beautiful purplish 

 tint, which looks charming against the 

 deep green of the older foliage. 



Culture dc. as above. 



L. lucidum (L. magnolicefoUum ; 

 L. strictum). — A handsome evergreen 



Chinese shrub 8-12 ft. high, known as 

 the ' Woa Tree.' Leaves oval, oval-lanoe- 

 shaped elliptic or roundish, shining green. 

 Flowers in autumn, white, in terminal 

 clusters. The variety Alivoni has dark 

 green wavy leaves irregularly variegated 

 with pale yellow. There is a form of 

 lucidum in which the leaves are variegated 

 with white ; another with gold ; and still 

 another called tricolor. 



Culture dc. as above. 



L. massalongianum {L. anguati- 

 foUum; L. myrtifoUum ; L. rosmarini- 

 folAv/in ; L. spicatu/m). — A pretty but 

 not well-known evergreen shrub about 

 6 ft. high, native of the Khasia HiUs, 

 having smooth, linear lance-shaped, 

 shortly stalked leaves, and white flowers, 

 borne in summer in numerous, dense, 

 much-branched panicles at the ends of 

 the branches and emitting a peculiar 

 odour. 



Culture dc. as above. 



L. ovalifolium (L. calif ornicum).— A 

 beautiful free-flowering Japanese Privet 

 with oval or oval-elliptic or obovate 

 shortly stalked leaves, deep glossy green 

 above, paler beneath. Flowers in 

 summer, white, in numerous clusters. 

 The variety variegatum has beautiful 

 yellow-blotched leaves when young, 

 passing into a silvery variegation with 

 age. The finest form, however, is that 

 known as aureum, popularly called the 

 ' Golden Privet,' now extensively culti- 

 vated on account of its beautiful golden 

 and green foliage, which is remark- 

 ably brilliant at great distances when 

 the plants are grown in masses. This 

 variety must be grown fully exposed to the 

 sun and away from the shade of trees, 

 hedges or walls, to obtain the full glow of 

 its golden colour. In the shade the 

 leaves gradually revert to the green 

 form. The tops of the shoots strike 

 readUy in cold frames in spring or 

 autumn. Young plants make effective 

 edgings, while older and taller ones make 

 splendid hedges. There is a variety called 

 instahile owing to the fact that the leaves 

 are sometimes alternate, sometimes oppo- 

 site, and sometimes in whorls of three. 



Culture dc. as above. 



L. Quihoui. — A somewhat straggling 

 Chinese shrub about 6 ft. high, with wiry 

 purplish branches covered with a slight 

 down. Leaves oblong or oblong ovate. 

 dark shining green. Flowers in October 



T T 2 



