About 50 species of privet shrubs and small trees belong to the genus Ligustrum of the Olive family, Oleaceae. They are popularly used as hedges and screens.
Privets are native to Europe, Asia, and the Mediterranean regions.
Its flowers bloom in clusters, or panicles, of small white blossoms. Many areas in New South Wales receive more water today, through irrigation for farming and urban land use, than naturally occurred before Europeans settled the region. Privet root systems have a remarkable ability to absorb nutrients and moisture from the soil, which makes it difficult to replant other species in the area after extracting the privets. Also, the pollen produced from this species is causing allergic reactions in many people. Specimens were illuminated through Nikon dichromatic filter blocks containing interference filters and a dichroic mirror and imaged with standard epi-fluorescence techniques.