''Ligustrum japonicum'', known as wax-leaf privet or Japanese privet ( ja, ネズミモチ) is a species of '' Ligustrum'' (privet) native to central and southern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

, Shikoku,

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

, Okinawa) and Korea. It is widely cultivated in other regions, and is naturalized in California and in the southeastern United States from Texas to Virginia.

Description

''L. japonicum'' is an evergreen

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

or small tree growing to —rarely —tall, with smooth, pale grey-brown

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

on the stems. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are opposite, 5–10 cm long and 2–5 cm broad, glossy dark green above, paler glaucous to yellowish green below, thick and leathery textured, and with an entire margin. The flowers are white, with a four-lobed corolla 5–6 mm long; they are borne in clusters 7–15 cm long in early summer. The fruit is an oval

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

, 10 mm long, ripening purple-black with a glaucous waxy bloom in early winter; in Japan they are popularly likened to

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

droppings. The species is closely related to the Chinese '' Ligustrum lucidum'', differing in its smaller size (''L. lucidum'' making a tree to over 10 m tall), and elongated oval (not subglobose) fruit.Hata Plant Ecology Laboratory
''Ligustrum japonicum''
(in Japanese

Rokko Mountain guide to trees

(in Japanese

Kizzu Guide

(in Japanese

Yakusou medicinal plants

(in Japanese

Flavon's Wild herb and Alpine plants

/ref>

Cultivation and uses

The fruit is used in

herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...

as a cardiotonic, diuretic, laxative and tonic treatment. The plant arrived in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

in the early 1800s and has become an invasive plant, particularly in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. It is occasionally grown as an ornamental plant in Europe and North America; a number of cultivars have been selected for garden use, including 'Rotundifolium' with leaves nearly as broad as long, and 'Silver Star' with creamy-white margins to the leaves.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan .

Etymology

''Ligustrum'' means 'binder'. It was named by Pliny and Virgil.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). p 237

Gallery

Image:Wax leaf ligustrum -- Ligustrum japonicum.jpg, flowers Image:Ligustrum japonicum 02.jpg, Immature fruit

Description

Cultivation and uses

Etymology

Gallery

References

Further reading