Editing Privet (section)

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Automatic taxobox
|name = Privet
|image = Schurenbachhalde 11 ies.jpg
|image_caption = ''[[Ligustrum vulgare]]''
|display_parents = 2
|taxon = Ligustrum
|authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]
|subdivision_ranks = Species
|subdivision = See text
}}

[[File:Wilde liguster (Ligustrum vulgare).jpg|thumb|right|Wild privet, also sometimes known as common privet or European privet (''[[Ligustrum vulgare]]'')]]

A '''privet''' is a [[flowering plant]] in the [[genus]] '''''Ligustrum'''''. The genus contains about 50 [[species]] of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees,{{R|POWO}} with a native distribution from Europe to tropical and subtropical Asia, and with one species each native to Australia and north Africa.<ref name="RFK">{{cite web |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/ligustrum_australianum.htm |title=Ligustrum australianum |author=F.A. Zich |author2=B.P.M Hyland |author3=T. Whiffen |author4=R.A. Kerrigan |website=[[Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants]], Edition 8 |year=2020 |publisher=[[Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation]] |access-date=6 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="APD">{{cite web |title=Ligustrum L. |url=https://africanplantdatabase.ch/en/search/Ligustrum%20L./fna/1/fsa/1/fta/1/bdm/1/page/1 |website=African Plant Database |publisher=Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques & South African National Biodiversity Institute |date=2022}}</ref> Some species have become widely naturalized or invasive where introduced. ''Privet'' was originally the name for the European semi-evergreen shrub ''[[Ligustrum vulgare]]'', and later also for the more reliably evergreen ''[[Ligustrum ovalifolium]]'' and its hybrid ''[[Ligustrum × ibolium]]'' used extensively for privacy hedging, though now the name is applied to all members of the genus.<ref>{{cite book |title=Craft of the Dyer: Colour from Plants and Lichens |last1=Casselman |first1=Karen Leigh |date=11 August 1993 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=9780486276069 }}</ref> The generic name was applied by [[Pliny the Elder]] (23–79 AD) to ''L. vulgare''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mE0z2MnIsloC |title=National Geographic Desk Reference to Nature's Medicine |first=Steven |last=Foster |author2=Rebecca Johnson |year=2008 |publisher=National Geographic Books |isbn=978-1-4262-0293-3 |page=116}}</ref> It is often suggested that the name ''privet'' is related to ''private'', but the Oxford English Dictionary states that there is no evidence to support this.<ref>{{Cite OED|privet|id=151621}}</ref>