Flora of New Zealand Series

privet

Upright shrub to c. 5 m high, glabrous except for infl., evergreen except in coldest areas. Shoots glabrous. Petioles < 5 mm long. Lamina 3-7-(9) × 1.5-4 cm, ovate to elliptic, shining above; base cuneate; apex obtuse or acute, often mucronate. Panicles to c. 15 × 10 cm, dense, broad-pyramidal; branches ± puberulent, ridged; pedicels short. Fls very fragrant. Bracts ovate or lanceolate; bracteoles 2, ± ovate, persisting after flowering. Calyx 1.5-2 mm long, glabrous, truncate or very shallowly lobed. Corolla white; tube 4.5-6 mm long; lobes 2-2.5 mm long, elliptic-ovate, acute, reflexed. Stamens exserted, = or slightly < length of corolla lobes; anthers yellow. Style included, 1/2-3/4 length of corolla tube. Fr. 5-7 mm diam., subglobose, purplish black. Seed c. 4 mm long, ± ellipsoid, ribbed on back.

N.: Auckland, Wellington; S.: Westland (near Jacksons), Invercargill, Bluff (Ocean Beach).

Japan 1958

Forest remnant margins, roadside banks, and waste places.

FL Nov-Apr.

Poisonous (Connor 1977).

A fl. of privet is illustrated in Fig. 92. This sp. is very commonly planted as a hedge. Wild plants are less common than for the other spp. described here, presumably because fr. are not often produced. Most cultivated plants belong to cv. 'Aureo-Marginatum' with a broad golden margin to the lvs. However, this cv. readily reverts to the green form which is the only one represented by wild plants.