hello i'm pat minogue with the University of Florida talking about Chinese privet ligustrum Sun ents which is an invasive weed very common throughout the southeastern United States it's often found in fence rows and at the edges of forests it's very shade tolerant it can grow in the understory of force but tends to be most prolific at the edges of stands as its name implies Chinese ligustrum is native to China another common name is Chinese privet it is considered invasive and much of the southeastern US Chinese privet grows in very dense thickets and can get up to 12 feet tall a variegated form is cultivated that is not known to produce viable seed but it will propagate vegetatively you'll see many runners and and rhizomes sprouting from the ground common to see this in our yards twigs are hairy leaves are opposite simple all green leaf blades are about one and a half inches long and three quarters of an inch wide they're elliptic with blunt tips and entire margins the mid vein on the underside of the leaf is hairy leaf petioles are short and hairy Chinese ligustrum produces many small white flowers that are often considered unpleasantly fragrant they occur on slender hairy stalks and narrow cone-shaped panicles on the terminal end of branchlets here in late September the fruits are a light green but with time they turn a dark blue to even black as the winter progresses the fruit is very persistent and will remain on the branch until early spring many varieties of ligustrum are still sold by ornamental nurseries commonly planted in Landscaping's but be careful with the Planet spreads prolifically produces so many of these seeds which are favored by many bird species and spread the plant throughout the countryside dispersal is a real problem with this invasive species it can easily get out of control