Ligustrum japonicum - Japanese privet

Japanese privet (Ligustrum japonicum) is an evergreen shrub native to woods and thickets of lowland and hill East Asia (China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan).¹ Its leaves and shoots are edible and its roasted seed is used as a Coffee substitute, though cooked young shoots are only a famine food and are probably toxic, since they contain a glycoside.¹ It grows up to 5 m tall and 6 m wide.¹

Inputs

• Hardiness zone 7¹
• Hardiness zone 8¹
• Hardiness zone 9¹
• Hardiness zone 10¹
• Full sun¹
• Semi-shade¹
• Moist soil¹

Outputs

• Human food¹
• Coffee substitute¹
• Emergency food¹
• Medicinal use¹
• Wax¹

Type

• Shrub
• Evergreen

Functions

• Hedge¹
• Attracting bees¹

Dimension	At maturity
Height (m)	up to 5
Diameter (m)	up to 6

Footnotes

1. Ligustrum japonicum | Plants for a Future ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷