Perennial woody vine

Stem: hairy and glandular when young.

Leaves: opposite, stalkless or short-stalked, dull green, 6 - 12 cm long, broadly oval to diamond- egg-shaped, fringed with hairs, hairy on both surfaces. The upper one or two pairs of leaves are pointed and fused into a diamond-shaped elliptic to rounded disk.

Flowers: borne in stalked clusters (short spikes) at branch tips. Spikes with one to four crowded whorls of flowers. Calyx minute, five-toothed. Corolla strongly two-lipped, yellow to orange, to 2.5 cm long, tubular, five-lobed, and hairy. Stamens five.

Fruit: a few-seeded berry, in clusters, stalkless, reddish orange, egg-shaped.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: early summer

Habitat and ecology: Found in a variety of dry to moist habitats, especially woods.

Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native

Etymology: Lonicera is named after Adam Lonicer (1528-1586), a German botanist and author. Hirsuta means hairy.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Twining shrub, the young stems hairy and glandular; lvs dull green, sessile or short-petioled, broadly oval to rhombic-ovate, 6-12 cm, hairy on both sides, the upper 1 or 2 pairs acuminate, connate into a rhombic-elliptic to subrotund disk; spikes with 1-4 crowded whorls of fls; cor yellow to orange, the pubescent tube slightly gibbous. Moist woods. June, July. Var. hirsuta, of w. N. Engl. and e. N.Y., has the cor-tube 15-22 mm, and the hypanthium densely glandular. Var. interior Gleason, of c. N.Y. and Pa. to s. Ont., Minn., and Man., has the cor-tube 10-18 mm, and the hypanthium glabrous or sparsely glandular.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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