Also called wild privet and common privet.

Part of ash / lilac / olive  family Oleaceae.

Native to 🇪🇺 Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern Asia.   🗺 Map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48) (color key).   Invasive > learn+quiz Invasive > 🌐︎ global Invasive > 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Canada+USA Invasive > report it! Invasive > 🇺🇸 USA Invasive > Michigan   Nice drawing.  Adobe Acrobat Reader file (page 39)

Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)

☠︎ Poisonous[?] berries and leaves, and ⚠︎🫁 asthma- and eczema-causing pollen, causing 🇳🇿 New Zealand to ban this plant.

🇺🇸 In the USA, the Lehigh Gap Nature Center suggests those seeking glossy foliage than can be pruned to a hedge replace this plant with native alternative bayberry  Myrica pensylvanica. [1]  Adobe Acrobat Reader file (pages 4 and 39)

More native alternatives (Missouri Botanical Garden).

This author heard (on 2023-01-26) Xerces.org refer to research that land on which privet had been removed, 13 years later, is indistinguishable from never-infested areas. [citation needed]   Management and Control (Wisconsin)  Adobe Acrobat Reader file Control and Alternatives (Maryland).  Adobe Acrobat Reader file (page 4)   I have also heard of controlling this plant using ⚶🐐︎ prescribed browsing / goatscaping.

Learn more about 🇪🇺 European privet Ligustrum vulgare

🔍︎ 🔍︎ images Discover Life Encyclopedia of Life Michigan Flora Missouri Botanical Garden USDA PLANTS db USFS Wikipedia