The stems are stiff, erect, with grey-brown bark spotted with small brown lenticels.

[citation needed] The fruit is a small glossy black berry 6–8 mm diameter, containing one to four seeds.

[4][5][6] Plants from the warmer parts of the range show a stronger tendency to be fully evergreen; these have sometimes been treated as a separate variety Ligustrum vulgare var.

[5][7][8] The species was used for hedging in Elizabethan gardens in England, but was superseded by the more reliably evergreen introduction L. ovalifolium from Japan.

[7] A number of cultivars have been selected, including:[5] The species is listed as invasive as an introduced plant in Australia,[9] Canada,[10] New Zealand,[11] and the United States.