Name: Chinese Privet, Ligustrum sinense Tree
SKU: CNPVT-90-1
Availability: OutOfStock

Description

Chinese Privet, Ligustrum sinense Tree

Common name: Privet of China
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Ligustrum
Species: L. sinense
Origins: China

The Chinese privet, Ligustrum sinense, is a plant that is well known to many people as a great nuisance in the landscape. It is also a Florida noxious weed because of its invasive nature.

Originally grown as an ornamental that formed a hedge and tolerated poor conditions, the Chinese privet has now spread to natural areas and grows easily on disturbed soils.

Features

Chinese privet reaches a height of about 4 m. It easily creates a dense, shaded area. It is ideal for hedges, screens, or as an isolated specimen.

The Ligustrum sinense plant is a shrub with semi-persistent foliage, curved branches, and elliptical-oblong or lanceolate leaves, of a pale green color, up to 7 cm long.
In mid-summer, covered with sickly-sweet small white flowers., collected in panicles up to 10 cm long, followed by globose.
Plants are full of white fragrant flowers (unpleasant to some people) in the spring with abundant small black-purple fruits forming in late summer and remaining into the winter.
Seeds are easily spread by wildlife to new areas but new plants can also grow from roots.
The trunk is usually forked near the base. The bark is a smooth gray with lenticels. The shade under a Chinese Privet is often so dense that almost nothing can grow underneath it.

Plant Care

Sunlight	Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
Watering	Water when soil seems dry. The mature chinese privet is somewhat drought tolerant and therefore they requires less water.
Soil	Chinese privet grows well in slightly acidic to slightly alkaline soils, with a suitable pH range of 6-7.5. It is best planted in deep, fertile, humus-rich, well-drained sandy loam or clay, adaptable to soil and has a certain tolerance to salt and alkali.
Temperature	20 to 30 degrees C
Fertilizer	Chinese privet does not have high requirements for fertilization. You can apply organic fertilizer twice each spring and autumn to encourage lush foliage and bright leaves.

PROPAGATING BY CUTTINGS

FROM EARLY SPRING TO EARLY SUMMER

Take softwood cuttings from new growth early in the day in Spring or early Summer. Cut, neatly, a 4″ approx. piece of a non-flowering shoot, pinch out the tip, and cut off the bottom leaves. Dip the bottom of the cutting in hormone rooting powder, and carefully place it in a pot of cutting compost with the leaves just above the level of the compost. Water, label, cover with a polythene bag, and place in a warm, bright place, out of direct sunlight.