The European Privet as a species was used a good amount in the northern US like some other privets to be a sheared hedge. Its 1 to 2.5 inch long leaves are more pointed and narrow than the Asian species and they are dark green and of thick texture. The 1 to 3 inch long white clusters of flowers are terminally borne. The 1/3 inch wide black berry is shiny. The young twigs are green and minutely pubescent. I think this species has the best foliage in the North USA. The species is susceptible to the Privet Anthracnose Blight of Glomerella cingulate that damages foliage and twigs and causes cankers, so it was dropped from the trade. However, the newer cultivar of 'Cheyenne' that came from seed collected in Yugoslavia and introduced into the trade from the Cheyenne Field Station is the most commonly planted privet used now in the Chicago area and the upper Midwest.

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