Ligustrum delavayanum Hariot

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Ligustrum delavayanum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ligustrum/ligustrum-delavayanum/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Synonyms

  • L. ionandrum Diels
  • L. prattii Koehne

Glossary

corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
axillary
Situated in an axil.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
ovoid
Egg-shaped solid.
synonym
(syn.) (botanical) An alternative or former name for a taxon usually considered to be invalid (often given in brackets). Synonyms arise when a taxon has been described more than once (the prior name usually being the one accepted as correct) or if an article of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature has been contravened requiring the publishing of a new name. Developments in taxonomic thought may be reflected in an increasing list of synonyms as generic or specific concepts change over time.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Ligustrum delavayanum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ligustrum/ligustrum-delavayanum/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

An evergreen shrub up to 10 ft high, of dense habit; young shoots thickly clothed with short fine down, becoming greyish. Leaves glabrous, of thin texture, ovate, oval or obovate, mucronate or bluntish at the apex, rounded or wedge-shaped at the base, 12 to 114 in. long, about 12 in. wide, dark bright green above. Flowers white, scented like common privet, densely packed in terminal panicles which are 34 to 112 in. long, augmented sometimes by axillary racemes. Corolla 16 in. long, anthers violet-coloured; flower-stalks downy. Fruits black, roundish ovoid, 14 in. wide, produced in closely packed clusters. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 60.

Native of Yunnan and W. Szechwan; introduced by the Abbé Delavay by means of seeds sent to Maurice de Vilmorin at Les Barres in 1890. It flowered there in 1893 and was described as a new species under the above name in 1900, at about which time it was introduced to Kew. Forrest found it in the Lichiang range in 1906 and from the specimen he sent home Diels, in 1912, described a new species – L. ionandrum – and when Forrest later sent seeds they were distributed under that name. But there is no doubt that Forrest’s privet belongs to L. delavayanum and that L. ionandrum was therefore a superfluous name. Another introduction was by Wilson from Szechwan, when collecting for the Arnold Arboretum; this was at first known as L. prattii, another synonym of L. delavayanum.

It is a pity that Forrest cannot be credited with either the discovery or the first introduction of this privet, for he thought highly of it and considered it to be one of the twelve best shrubs that he had introduced. Grown in the open, it makes a dense flat-topped bush about 6 ft high, but becomes taller if drawn up by the shade of trees. It is not completely hardy, but would make an attractive hedge in the milder parts of the country, and is so used at Headfort in Ireland.