Border privet is a deciduous shrub that may grow to be 20 ft. tall. Its leaves are opposite, have smooth margins, and can vary in shape from oval to oblong. Some shrubs may have short, thorny twigs protruding from the branches. Privet produces clusters of small, white, trumpet-shaped flowers at the tips of the branches. Its berries turn black when they ripen and remain on the plant into winter.

Border privet grows in human-dominated areas such as abandoned fields and roadsides, and will also invade forest margins, canopy openings in forests, stream edges and floodplains.

Privet forms dense thickets, shading out native plants. It also displaces native shrubs and seedlings in regenerating forests.

Smaller shrubs can be pulled by hand. Larger shrubs can be treated with herbicide using cut-stump, foliar, or basal bark applications.