Ligustrum japonicum Thunb.

Wax-leaf Privet

Evergreen shrub to 3 m or more tall. Branchlets with short down at first that is soon lost. Leaves 6-10 cm long, more or less ovate, hairless, leathery. Leaf stalk mostly 0.5-1 cm long. Flower clusters to about 10 cm long and nearly as broad. Flowers with tubes slightly longer than the lobes; summer to autumn. Fruits black, about 5 mm wide.

N China, Japan, Korea

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Oleaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

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Distribution map

Ligustrum japonicum 'Rotundifolium'

Privet. Leaves dark green, crowded on the stem, near orbicular and leathery.

Introduced to Western horticulture from Japanese gardens in the mid-19th century and, as it is apparently not known in the wild, recognition as a botanical form or variety appears unwarranted.

kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Asteranae
order      Lamiales
family       Oleaceae
genus        Ligustrum L.