Invasive Plant Awareness Week

Posted on: March 11th, 2011

In recognition of Invasive Plant Awareness Week (which was actually last week) I have very strong words for an invasive that continues to be sold in our state. Ligustrum sinense (Chinese privet) was introduced to the US in 1852 and has mostly been used for hedging. Since then it has escaped cultivation and spread throughout the Southeast and Midwest. In Eastern North Carolina it is evergreen to semi-evergreen with 1-1.5″ elliptic, smooth-edged leaves. The small black fruits (of which a single shrub can produce hundreds) ripen in August and September and are primarily dispered by birds. Variegated varieties remain popular even though the shrub tends to be leggy and grows so rapidly as to require several pruinings in a growing season. Natural bottomland plant species are rapidly being displaced by this aggressive plant. See our Facebook page for a picture of escaped
L. sinense