Glossy Privet (Ligustrum lucidum)

Glossy Privet
Ligustrum lucidum

A small shade tree with berries in October which turn purple as they mature. (San Antonio, Tx.)

The plant pictured here is Ligustrum lucidum, not L. japonicum.

nifty, both of these photos of this tree were taken with my very old camera with a low pixel count and are not very good. My monitor at the time was set to a dark screen to prevent migraine headaches. When I was setting the color brightness of the photos, I set 100s of photos too light not realizing it. The leaves are much darker on this plant than as shown in this photo.

I vaguely remember that I purposely shot the photo with the foliage in the shade so the shininess of the leaves did not reflect back into the camera making the leaves appear whitish. I also recall having difficulty with the plant's ID because the photos that I found on the internet varied so much. Now I know why. Many of them are obviously misidentifications even by nurseries. Are you basing the tree ID on the leaf shape or the berry cluster being large and tight? In the photo of the berries, the leaves appear to be thick and shiny; however, I can't really tell. I will go back to the tree and check out the leaves again and see if they are translucent.

Thank you for the comment. I sure do not want to misidentify a plant and lead to further confusion. :o)

Thanks for your consideration! I should've given some reason for my statement...

I do think the clusters of fruit are too large and pendulous to be Ligustrum japonicum. Leaf shape does seem to lack the slight undulations that are usually seen with L. japonicum.

Also, in the lower right corner of the photo is what looks like it could possibly be the windshield of a car? If so, that would seem (hard to tell conclusively from the perspective) that the plant is at least 8 feet tall, possibly taller? Your quote above the photo states: "A small shade tree... ," I personally haven't experienced L. japonicum being more than 6 or 8 feet wide... most likely because what I've probably been around is the cultivar 'Rotundifolium', which is significantly smaller than the species.

I hope you are able to get some more photos. And again, I really do appreciate your consideration!

This message was edited Feb 16, 2008 9:30 AM

nifty 413, I am fairly certain that you are correct and I appreciate your informing me of the error and assistring me with the proper ID. :o) Yes, that is a car windshield and this is a small tree much taller than 10 feet. I haven't had time check the tree out yet and will have to wait until the weather improves to examine and take better photos of it. I'll have to remember to go back later on and take photos of the blooms. I will ask that the photo be moved to its proper entry. I believe there are other photos that need to be moved also. Thanks again.