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Species
Ligustrum sinense var. stauntonii (DC.) Rehder
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Central mountain range.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/35140 |
More info for the terms: fuel, fuel moisture, mixed-severity fire, prescribed fire
Effectiveness of prescribed fire to control privet may vary. Prescribed burning to control Chinese privet in northwestern Georgia resulted in a mixed-severity fire, with some aboveground mortality and survival of substantial numbers of mature stems. This result was attributed to the erratic, spotty nature of the fire. This may have been due to Chinese privet's affinity for moist, low-lying habitat [14]. More research is needed that documents the effects of fire on privet and subsequent plant responses.
Due to the ability of privet to sprout following damage from fire, persistent annual burning will likely be required for local eradication. Nature Conservancy preserve managers in Alabama and Florida have reported that repeated annual prescribed burning, when conducted during periods of low fuel moisture, can eventually eliminate Chinese privet and European privet from invaded sites. Burning is not likely to be effective on perpetually moist sites [1].
Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state noxious status and wetland indicator values.
United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Ligustrum+sinense |
Major Threats
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/35140 |
More info for the term: nonnative species
European privet is native to Europe [11,19,25,37,49,54,69,71]. Chinese privet is native to Southeast Asia [9,11,25,67,75] and was introduced to the United States in the early 1950s [31]. Japanese privet is native to eastern Asia [9,11,67,75]. The following general descriptions of North American distribution for privet are based on florae, herbaria samples, and other published literature.
Amur privet occurs from New York south to South Carolina and west to West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas. It has also been reported in Maine [27,61,62]. Plants database provides a map of Amur privet's distribution in the United States.
Japanese privet occurs mainly in the southeastern United States. It is reported from Florida west to north-central Texas and north to Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee. It is also reported from Puerto Rico and Washington [4,11,20,27,31,61,62,75]. Plants database provides a map of Japanese privet's distribution in the United States.
Chinese privet occurs from Virginia south to Florida and west to Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. It occurs in the Atlantic coastal states as far north as Massachusetts. It also has been reported from Puerto Rico and Oregon [1,9,10,11,14,20,27,31,40,43,44,46,48,59,61,62,66,68,74,75]. Plants database provides a map of Chinese privet's distribution in the United States.
European privet occurs in every U.S. state east of the Mississippi River except Florida and Mississippi. To the west, it is reported from north-central Texas east into Arkansas and Louisiana. European privet distribution is apparently scattered throughout the western United States, with reported occurrences in Nebraska, Utah, Montana, and Oregon. In Canada it is reported in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and British Columbia [1,3,11,18,27,47,57,61,62,69,71]. Plants database provides a map of European privet's distribution in the United States.
The following biogeographic classification systems demonstrate where Japanese privet (labeled with the abbreviation J), Chinese privet (C), and European privet (E) could potentially be found based on the above information. Amur privet (A) has not been included in these lists (other than the States list) because information about North American distribution and occurrence is lacking for this species. In general, predicting distribution of nonnative species in North America is difficult due to gaps in understanding of their biological and ecological characteristics, and because they may still be expanding their range. These lists are speculative and may not be accurately restrictive or complete.
More info for the term: root crown
A fact sheet described Japanese privet as "resprouting following fire," although further details were lacking [31]. Chinese privet responded to aboveground damage from fire by "vigorously" sprouting from the root crown following fall and winter prescribed fires in Chickamauga National Military Park, Tennessee [14]. It is also likely that European privet and Amur privet respond to fire damage by sprouting, although as of this writing, documentation was lacking.
More info for the terms: fire management, hardwood, mesic, natural, presence, relict, restoration, shrub
Impacts: In many areas of North America, privet easily escapes cultivation and can quickly degrade native communities by forming dense monospecific stands [1]. In a survey of federal wilderness managers, privet was mentioned among "widely reported problem species" in Alabama, Arkansas, and Kentucky [32].
Japanese privet escapes into natural areas in southern North America where it can form "dense, impenetrable thickets" and displace native species [31]. One example is in natural areas around Austin, Texas, where Japanese privet has invaded intermittent stream bed and mesic woodland habitats. Its impacts include outcompeting native woody species such as wax mallow (Malvaviscus arborea var. drummondii), Mexican buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa), American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), small palmleaf thoroughwort (Conoclinium greggii), pecan (Carya illinoensis), and Texas ash (Fraxinus texensis). Removal of Japanese privet from these areas has resulted in regrowth of other native species, including mescalbean sophora (Sophora secundiflora), Buckley oak (Quercus buckleyi), live oak (Quercus virginiana), southwestern bristlegrass (Setaria scheelei), toothleaf goldeneye (Viguiera dentata), white crownbeard (Verbesina virginica), Rio Grande palmetto (Sabal mexicana), rougeplant (Rivina humilis), and Drummond's woodsorrel (Oxalis drummondii) [53].
Chinese privet invades natural areas throughout much of southern and eastern North America. It has been reported as a problem weed on Nature Conservancy preserves in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina [1]. Chinese privet establishes monospecific stands that dominate the forest shrub layer and shade out herbaceous plants, altering species composition and community structure [11,31,68]. Increasing abundance of Chinese privet in the understory of eastern bottomland forests may hinder regeneration of native hardwood species [4].
An example of the impacts of Chinese privet on native plant diversity is in southern Florida, where it has invaded undisturbed relict slope hammock habitat, threatening to displace the rare Miccosukee gooseberry (Ribes echinellum) [64]. Miccosukee gooseberry is federally listed as threatened [63] and state listed as endangered in Florida [15].
Impacts of European privet on native North American flora are mixed. It has been reported as a problem weed on Nature Conservancy preserves in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Ohio [1], but there are fewer reports of negative impacts from invasive European privet in North America than for Chinese privet. Gayek and Quigley [18] describe valley bottoms in a southwestern Ohio mixed mesophytic forest where European privet has been growing for at least 40 years. Their studies indicate that European privet generally does not compete well in the understories of these forests. Even in moist valley bottoms where it establishes mature stems, European privet coexists with a variety of native perennials and spring "wildflowers" [18]. More research is needed to determine where escaped European privet poses the greatest threat to North American natural areas.
Control: Perhaps the most important aspect of controlling privet is managing sprouting that often occurs subsequent to initial control treatments (see Asexual regeneration). Control methods that remove or damage aboveground stems, such as mechanical cutting or prescribed burning, will likely cause sprouting. Subsequent monitoring and repeated treatments may be necessary to eliminate sprouting stems.
Prevention: Preventing the influx of privet seed from relatively distant sources may be impossible due to dispersal by birds. Preventing establishment of dense, seed-producing populations in managed natural areas will increase the probability of successful restoration programs [1]. Frequent monitoring may be necessary in areas near a privet seed source or in areas that were recently treated to control existing privet infestations. Young Chinese privet seedlings (stem diameter < 1 inch (25 mm) and height < 8 inches (20 cm)) are able to produce "substantial" amounts of fruit [72]. Young privet stems of sprout origin might also be capable of contributing seed soon after control treatments.
Integrated management: No information
Physical/mechanical: Seedlings can be removed by hand-pulling. When hand-pulling seedlings, the entire root system must be extracted to prevent sprouting. Established seedlings become increasingly difficult to hand-pull because of a strong root system [68].
Mowing and/or cutting can reduce the spread of privet by preventing seed production. Repeated cutting may eventually eradicate privet [1]. Stems larger than 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter may be most easily controlled by cutting close to ground level and applying herbicides to the cut stumps [30,53,68]. Cutting stems without accompanying herbicide treatment will likely promote growth from sprouting. Even with repeated follow-up cutting, mechanical control alone may be difficult [68].
Fire: See Fire Management Considerations.
Biological: No information
Grazing/browsing: Domestic goats can provide some control, provided privet has not grown beyond browseline [1].
Chemical: Invasive privet can often be effectively controlled by painting cut stumps with herbicides. Areas where this method may be particularly desirable include sparse infestations of large stems, places where stems are concentrated, such as fence lines, or habitats where the presence of desirable native species precludes foliar application [26].
Foliar spraying can also be effective, particularly for dense populations. Late fall or early spring are the best times for foliar spraying, since privet is likely to be biologically active but native species are dormant. Applying herbicide and oil solution to basal stem bark may also kill privet [1].
Below is a list of herbicides that have been tested and judged effective for controlling privets in North America, as well as some special considerations for specific control techniques. There is no information available, as of this writing (2003), concerning chemical control of Amur privet.
Japanese privet | Chinese privet | European privet | |||
Chemical(s) | Special Considerations | Chemical(s) | Special Considerations | Chemical(s) | Special Considerations |
imazapyr | effective for painting cut stumps [53] | imazapyr [1,35] | effective for painting cut stumps [1] | 2,4-D/picloram | effective for painting cut stumps [26] |
glyphosate | most effective when applied at bud break or soon thereafter [1] | glyphosate [35,68] | apply to foliage in late fall after native plant foliage has abscised [1,68] | glyphosate | effective for painting cut stumps [1] |
triclopyr [1] | triclopyr/picloram | effective for painting cut stumps [26] | |||
metsulfuron [26,35] | metsulfuron [26] | ||||
glyphosate/X-45 [26,31] | effective for painting cut stumps or for foliar application [31] |
For more information regarding appropriate use of herbicides against invasive plant species in natural areas, see The Nature Conservancy's Weed control methods handbook. For more information specific to herbicide use against privet, see The Nature Conservancy's Element Stewardship Abstract web page for Ligustrum spp.
Cultural: No information
More info on this topic.
This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS [2]:
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont CE
14 Great Plains JCE