﻿spear-shaped, quite entire, somewhat resembling those of the 

 myrtle, but of a duller hue ; almost evergreen in mild seasons. 

 Panicles many-flowered, dense, thrice-compound, and somewhat 

 pyramidal. Flowers strongly scented, white ; changing to a reddish 

 brown colour before they fall ; segments thick and fleshy. Stamens 

 generally 2, but sometimes 3 or 4, in each flower. Berries globu- 

 lar, purplish black, nauseous, and very bitter. 



The Privet is a very useful and ornamental shrub, and is easily 

 propagated, either by cuttings, layers, or suckers, but the strongest 

 and best plants are those raised from seeds. Its chief use is to form 

 hedges, as it bears clipping well, and is not liable to be disfigured 

 by insects, and having only fibrous roots, it robs the ground less 

 than almost any other shrub. It will grow under the drip of trees, 

 and is one of the few plants that will bear the smoky atmosphere 

 of towns. According to Linn^us, cows, sheep, and goats eat the 

 Privet ; but horses refuse it. Sphinx Ligustri, or Privet Hawk 

 Moth, and Phalcena Syringaria, feed on it in their catterpillar 

 state ; and the Meloe vesicatorius, Cantharides or Blister Beetle, 

 is said to have been found on it. The leaves are bitter and slightly 

 astringent. The wood is very hard, and fit for the Turner. The 

 berries, which are filled with a dry, spongy, violet pulp, (from 

 which, according to Scopoli, a rose-coloured pigment may be 

 prepared,) continue on the shrub till Spring, and in times of scar- 

 city are eaten by different sorts of birds, particularly the bullfinch. 

 With the addition of alum, they dye wool and silk of a good and 

 durable green, but for this purpose they must be gathered as soon 

 as they are ripe. 



A variety of this shrub, with yellow berries, is frequently culti- 

 vated in gardens, as is also a variety with variegated leaves. 



The Natural Order Olea'ce^r, to which the Privet belongs, is 

 composed of trees or shrubs, with opposite, simple, sometimes pin- 

 nated, leaves. The flowers are produced in terminal or axillary 

 racemes or panicles, and are usually hermaphrodite, but sometimes 

 dioecious. The calyx is inferior, monosepalous, divided, and per- 

 manent. The corolla is hypogonous, monopetalous, 4-cleft, occa- 

 sionally of 4 petals, connected in pairs by the intervention of the 

 filaments, sometimes without petals ; aestivation somewhat valvate. 

 The stamens are 2 in number, and are alternate with the segments 

 of the corolla or with the petals. The anthers are 2-celled, and 

 open longitudinally. The ovarium is simple, without any hypo- 

 gynous disk, it is 2-celled ; the cells are 2-seeded ; the ovules 

 pendulous and collateral ; the style one or none ; and the stigma 

 bifid or undivided. The fruit is drupaceous, berried, or capsular, 

 and is often by abortion 1 -seeded. The seeds have a dense, fleshy, 

 abundant albumen ; the embryo is straight ; the cotyledons folia- 

 ceous, partly asunder ; the radicle is superior ; and the plumula 

 inconspicuous. See Lindl. Syn. p. 171. 



