Originally found in China, Korea, and Japan, it is now common in the South and West parts of the United States. It is an evergreen which has white flowers during the summer and small blue-black berries in the fall. These berries are the fruit used for herbal remedies.
Ligustrum fruit has many immune-enhancing effects, including cancer inhibition.
It appears to increase white blood cell counts. Astragalus membranaceus and Ligustrum lucidum on lymphocyte blastogenic response. 2 Sun Y, et al.