Growing Ligustrum sinense: A Complete Care Manual for Blooming Success

The Ligustrum sinense also known as the Hill Privet Tree, Lesser Wax Tree, or Water Privet, belongs to the Oleaceae family.

It is a semi-deciduous small tree that can grow up to 6 meters tall. Branches, the underside of leaves’ midribs, and the axes of the flower inflorescences are densely covered with short, soft hairs.

The leaves are opposite, paper-like in texture, oval-shaped, approximately 5 centimeters long and 2 centimeters wide, with smooth margins and a petiole about 3 millimeters long.

The flowers are hermaphroditic, radially symmetrical, fragrant, small, and numerous. The inflorescences are grouped in panicles, which are about 10 centimeters long and grow from the axils of the upper branches.

The flowers have a white, funnel-shaped corolla, and the fruit is a spherical drupe, about 5 millimeters in diameter, turning purple-black when ripe. The flowering period is from March to May.

It is only cultivated in the Xi’an Botanical Garden on the northern slope of the Qinling Mountains. This plant is tolerant to pruning, slow-growing, and highly resistant to harmful gases, making it suitable for industrial and mining greening.

It can be used for hedge fences, green walls, and concealment for privacy as a green screen, and can be shaped into various geometric forms—long, short, square, or circular.

The fruit can be used for winemaking, seeds for making soap, and stem bark fibers for producing artificial cotton. Medicinally, it can treat infections and coughs.

The purple privet (also known as Wind Purple or Hill Privet) is used in herbal medicine for blood disorders. It stops bleeding without causing blood stasis, both taken internally and applied externally, ensuring worry-free bleeding management.

I. Morphological Characteristics

It is a deciduous shrub or small tree, generally about 2 meters tall, but can reach up to 7 meters. The branches spread out and are densely covered with yellow short soft hairs.

The leaves are thin-leathery, oval-shaped to oblong-oval-shaped, 3-4.5 centimeters long, 1-1.8 centimeters wide, with a sharp or blunt tip and a rounded or broadly cuneate base.

The surface is dark green, and the back has short soft hairs only along the midrib, which is concave on the surface and protruding on the back.

The veins near the margin of the leaf connect, and the petiole, 3-6 millimeters long, is also covered with short soft hairs. The panicle inflorescences are loose, terminal, 6-10 centimeters long, and have short soft hairs.

The flowers are white, with thin pedicels, the calyx is bell-shaped and hairy, with linear lobes about 2 millimeters long, equal in length to the calyx tube.

The corolla is approximately 4 millimeters long, with a lobed limb, and the lobes are oblong-shaped, slightly longer than the corolla tube. There are two stamens, attached to the corolla tube and exserted.

The drupe is nearly spherical, about 4 millimeters in diameter, and black. The flowering period is in July, with the fruit ripening in October. It blooms from March to May.

II. Growth Environment

It is sensitive to soil moisture; it grows poorly in dry and barren conditions. It’s commonly found near villages, on hillsides, and among grasses. Chinese Privet has entered the realm of bonsai and is gradually becoming a favorite.

However, due to its thin bark, poor management, and insufficient watering can lead to dehydration of the trunk or parts of it, resulting in the old branches dying off and the loss of branches in the bonsai.

III. Growth and Propagation

It propagates through seeding and cuttings. Seeds are sown at the end of autumn, and cuttings are taken in spring. The best time for transplanting is from October to November or in March, and it should be moved with a soil ball.

IV. Main Value

Ornamental Application

It is tolerant to pruning, slow-growing, and resistant to harmful gases, making it suitable for industrial and mining greening. It can be used for hedges, green walls, and privacy screens, and shaped into various geometric shapes.

Medicinal Value

The fruit can be used for winemaking, the seeds for making soap, and the stem bark fibers for artificial cotton. It has medicinal uses, including treating infections and coughs.

Purple privet (also known as Wind Purple or Hill Privet) has properties that treat blood disorders. It stops bleeding without causing blood stasis and can be used both internally and externally, ensuring worry-free bleeding management.

Dosage: For internal use, boil 10 grams for dried herb or 15 grams for fresh herb; for powder, take 0.9 to 2.1 grams; for external use, apply as much as needed.

Translator’s Note: Purple privet is a deciduous shrub in the Verbenaceae family, and its leaves are used medicinally. The leaves have a slightly astringent taste and are considered to have a neutral energy.

They are used to disperse blood stasis and stop bleeding, treating traumatic bleeding (apply a sufficient amount of fresh purple privet leaves mashed into a paste to the wound, or keep dried leaf powder in a bottle for emergency use, apply the powder directly to the wound and bandage), gastrointestinal bleeding (take 0.9 to 1.5 grams of leaf powder with cold water, drink every four hours, or boil 6 grams of leaves as tea), and nasal bleeding (take 0.9 to 1.5 grams of leaf powder mixed with honey three times a day after meals; for external use, apply 0.3 to 0.6 grams of leaf powder to the affected nostril with a cotton ball).

It is also used for coughing up blood, bloody stools, and uterine bleeding (take 15 grams of fresh leaves or 10 grams of dried leaves, boil in water, and use the decoction to mix with two egg whites; or take 2.1 grams of leaf powder with one egg white, mix in a bowl, and drink with boiling water, twice to three times a day).

Ingesting the fruit of Ligustrum sinense can cause diarrhea and even death. However, its medicinal extract can be used as a skin disinfectant, quickly forming a scab to protect wounds.

It also has antibacterial and tissue-regenerating properties. Many people use it to treat mouth and tongue ulcers, and it has become a common folk remedy in Enping.

After years of use, it has been found to be effective and without side effects, proving to be a good treatment for mouth and tongue ulcers.

The dosage is about ten flower buds each time, and there are several methods of application: one is to mash them and apply the juice to the affected area two to three times a day for two to three days; another is to chew the buds in the mouth and spit out the residue after one to two minutes, making sure not to rinse with water to maintain the efficacy of the medicine.

Apply two to three times a day for two to three days. Generally, recovery occurs by the fourth day. The severity of the condition can affect the speed of recovery, and early treatment at the onset of symptoms yields better results.