Ligustrum lucidum, originating from China, is used as a re-vegetation tree in residential and urban areas in Japan. Recently, the incidence of L. lucidum trees that have become established beyond the planting sites has been increasing in urban areas. We found that L. lucidum had invaded the sandbank of the Inagawa River, Hyogo Prefecture, in western Japan. We studied a population of L. lucidum to consider how they adapted to a riparian environment and from which locality did they spread. We investigated the distribution ,height, DBH, fructificatio na,nd position relationship between the planting site and individuals of L. lucidum on this sandbank. There were 94 individual trees. Their average height was 3.1 m, their average diameter at breast height was 3.5 cm and their average number of sprouts per stump was 5.3. The number of trees bearing fruit was 44. These results suggest that L. lucidum can adapt to a riparian environment and expand its distribution across rivers. The nearest planting site of L. lucidum, that was composed of many individuals was from the sandbank ; within the distance that birds often carry seeds of plants. It was confirmed that L. lucidum on the sandbank had come from the nearest planting site.
