Shrub to 3 m tall Leaves: opposite, typically paler beneath, 3 - 6 cm long, up to twice as long as wide, egg-shaped to reverse egg-shaped, often with a tapering base and pointed tip, sometimes sparsely hairy. Flowers: in pairs, borne on a 1 - 2 cm long, hairy axillary stalk. Bractlets hairy. Calyx short, five-lobed, and hairy. Corolla white or yellowish white, often tinged reddish, 7 - 12 mm long, tubular, five-lobed, hairy outside. Stamens five. Fruit: a few-seeded berry, in pairs, dark red. Twigs: hollow. Form: upright.
Similar species: Lonicera x xylosteoides is similar but its bractlets and calyx lobes are only hairy along the margins.
Flowering: May
Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Eurasia. A rare escape from cultivation. Found it mesic woods.
Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native
Etymology: Lonicera is named after Adam Lonicer (1528-1586), a German botanist and author.
Much like no. 8 [Lonicera oblongifolia (Goldie) Hook.], but with hollow twigs, shorter (12-20 mm) peduncles, well developed bracts and bractlets, separate, glandular ovaries, and mostly shorter (7-12 mm) cor; 2n=18. Native of Europe, occasionally escaped and ±established in our range. May, June.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
