Is this a privet weed?

10 years ago

Talking with my neighbor a couple of years back, she told me that what I had was weed from a large privet hedge in another neighbor's yard (might have been her mom's, where she grew up and lived next door to). So spread by the birds pooping out the seeds. Definitely not by wind - we all have fenced yards here in Nor Cal.

Is that right? It kind of looks like what I google, but then not a ton comes up on the weed aspect of the seeds.

It grows in the shady portions of the yard - the plant bed under the oak, the area of grass near the oak that's well shaded. Pulls out fairly easily when the ground is moist. Tough skinned-leaves. The shell on the bottom I thought was the seed hull, but then it would have grown from when I sometimes catch the sprout head - so that doesn't make sense (I'm sure I'm totally off here, cuz you wouldnt have both a seed/bulb in the ground along with the hull at the top of the sprout, right?)

There are a ton of them, but most of them don't make it that tall, and out of say 50 of them, only one grows to 12" tall when I usually take notice and pull it out. The ones in the grass, of course, get mowed away. I think they are pretty much year round, but they do seem to be more right now which is why I'm investigating.

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Comments (4)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
10 years ago
Your photo is too small to see much detail and won't enlarge for me. It could be a privet seedling (Ligustrum species) although a pretty young plant to make much of a determination from. Also the seed of a ligustrum is enclosed in a berry-like fruit and each seed is quite tiny.....it wouldn't be as noticeable as the seed capsule remaining on your seedling.

Part of your difficulty in searching may be due to terminology :-) Privets are considered a "weedy" species in that they seed themselves around rather freely, often to the point of being invasive. But they are also a widely planted garden ornamental. So while you may or may not consider that plant "weedy", what you are holding is just really a seedling, regardless of what its identity is.
lilylchen
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Good point on terminology. When I look for "privet seedling", much more to what I have comes up. But, yes, I am considering it a weed :-)

Thanks, that did help, though not sure the disparity on the bulb at the root, because this definitely came with it.
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lisanti07028
10 years ago
Then it is not a privet seedling, but a seedling from something else. It is very difficult to identify a seedling without a closer picture and/or its second set of leaves. Could you give us picture of another example?
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
10 years ago
As well as a better picture can you also give the geographical location?