Privet

Ligustrum vulgare

COMMON NAMES

• Common Privet
• Prim
• Privet

Common privet is a perennial shrub often used for hedges that can reach nine feet or more. Common privet is an evergreen, with glossy dark green leaves, cream-colored flowers, and black berries.

In colonial times common privet was transported to North America for cultivation as a hedge plant, and it has been highly esteemed here ever since. Its abundant leaves form a thick screen, and if the plant is allowed to grow, it can reach 15 feet. In warm areas the foliage often remains on the plant year-round, and it is seemingly impervious to air pollution. Privet responds well to clipping, swiftly sending out new growth to replace what is lost. Skilled gardeners may clip common privet into animal shapes and other fanciful designs-an art called topiary.

In view of such virtues many gardeners may be surprised to learn that common privet has also had a solid reputation as a medicinal plant. A century ago, physicians used its berries as a strong laxative. The flowers were placed on the forehead as a headache remedy, and the leaves found use as an astringent in the form of mouthwashes and gargles. Both leaves and flowers have been relied on for assuaging such female problems as irregular menstruation and vaginal irritations. Common privet's assets do not end there, however. The bark produces a yellow dye, and the berries yield green and black dyes. The young branches are sometimes used for basketry.

PARTS USED

Berry, leaf, flower.

USES

Scholars are not sure of the origin of the name" privet", some link it to "private" because the plant's use in hedges dates back to antiquity. Before the true nature of infection was understood, some people blamed flowers such as common privet for the spread of disease and barred them from the house. Common privet berries and bark make dyes; an unrelated species bearing the same name, Egyptian privet, or Lawsonia inermis, produces the popular dye henna. Common privet is commonly used in topiary art by skilled gardeners to clip into animal shapes and other designs. The young branches are sometimes used in basketry, and the bark yields a yellow dye. The wood is a source of charcoal.

Common privet was sometimes used in England for sore lips and the mumps and as an astringent in the form of gargles and mouth washes. Settlers brought common privet to the U.S. where they devised medicinal uses for it. When placed on the head, the flowers relieved headaches. The berries were a strong laxative, and the leaves and flowers treated menstrual disorders. Asians use a related species as a tonic. Some herbalists consider common privet an immune system strengthener. Tumors can suppress the ability of macrophages - cells that destroy bacteria and other debris - to function. Studies have shown that a combination of common privet and astragalus may reverse this.

HABITAT AND CULTIVATION

Common privet is native to Asia, North Africa, and Europe.

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