Ligustrum robustum grows as a shrub or small tree up to tall though old specimens of more than a hundred years have been observed with a height of . The fruit of the shrub is an ellipsoid berry, bluish-purple when fully ripe, × .Carl Ludwig von Blume. 1850. Museum Botanicum Lugduno-Batavum sive stirpium Exoticarum, Novarum vel Minus Cognitarum ex Vivis aut Siccis Brevis Expositio et Descriptio. Leiden 1: 313, Ligustrum robustumRoxburgh, William. 1820. Flora Indica; or descriptions of Indian Plants 1: 101–102, Phillyrea robusta
The shrub is native to South and Southeast Asia (Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam) but has become naturalized in other countries.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Ligustrum robustum It was introduced to Mauritius at the end of the 19th century and to La Réunion, where it has become a major invasive species. The Flora of China lists a "Ligustrum robustum subsp. chinense P. S. Green" as native to China,Flora of China, v 15 p 302, Ligustrum robustum subsp. chinense but more recent publications have regarded that name as a synonym of L. expansum.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Ligustrum robustum subsp. chinense
Ligustrum robustum was nominated among 100 of the "World's Worst" invasive species. A moth (Epiplema albida), and two coleoptera (Dermorhytis ornatissima and Dermorhytis lewisi) are being tested for biological control programs in La Réunion but have not yet been released.T. Le Bourgeois, V. Blanfort, S. Baret, C. Lavergne, Y. Soubeyran and J.Y. Meyer. 2008. Opportunities for classical biological control of weeds in European overseas territories. International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds Other lepidoptera that feed on this plant are Brahmaea wallichii, Pangrapta grisangulaCaterpillar host plant database and Dolbina inexacta.
Etymology Ligustrum means ‘binder’. It was named by Pliny and Virgil.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). p 237
See also Kuding, a tisane made from its leaves
References