Ligustrum robustum | |
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Ligustrum robustum in the foreground | |
Scientific classification
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Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Oleaceae |
Genus: | Ligustrum |
Species: | L. robustum
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Binomial name | |
Ligustrum robustum | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Ligustrum robustum grows as a shrub or small tree up to 10 m (30 ft) tall though old specimens of more than a hundred years have been observed with a height of 15 m (50 ft). The fruit of the shrub is an ellipsoid berry, bluish-purple when fully ripe, 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) × 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in). [2] [3] [4]
The shrub is native to South and Southeast Asia ( Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar ( Burma), Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam) but has become naturalized in other countries. [5] It was introduced to Mauritius at the end of the 19th century and to La Réunion, where it has become a major invasive species. [6] The Flora of China lists a "Ligustrum robustum subsp. chinense P. S. Green" as native to China, [7] but more recent publications have regarded that name as a synonym of L. expansum. [8]
Ligustrum robustum was nominated among 100 of the "World's Worst" invasive species. A moth ( Epiplema albida), and two coleoptera ( Dermorhytis ornatissima and Dermorhytis lewisi) are being tested for biological control programs in La Réunion but have not yet been released. [6] Other lepidoptera that feed on this plant are Brahmaea wallichii, Pangrapta grisangula [9] and Dolbina inexacta.
Ligustrum means ‘binder’. It was named by Pliny and Virgil. [10]