Ligustrum robustum

Ligustrum robustum grows as a shrub or small tree up to 10 m (30 ft) tall though old specimen of more than hundred years have been observed with a height of 15 m (50 ft). The fruit is an ellipsoid berry, bluish-purple, 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) × 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in).^[2][3][4]

It is native to South and Southeast Asia (Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam) but had become naturalised in other countries.^[5] It was introduced to Mauritius in 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 lewis) 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.

References

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