Shrub to 2 m tall
Leaves: opposite, 3 - 12 cm long, triangular- egg-shaped to oblong with broadly tapering to rounded base and pointed or rounded tip, thin, fringed with hairs, sometimes sparsely hairy beneath.
Flowers: in pairs, borne on a 2 - 3 cm long axillary stalk, drooping. Bracts shorter to slightly longer than the ovaries, linear or awl-shaped. Calyx short, five-toothed. Corolla greenish yellow, 12 - 22 mm long, funnel-shaped, five-lobed. Stamens five. Ovaries separate, divergent.
Fruit: a few-seeded berry, in pairs, widely divergent, reddish orange.
Twigs: hairless.
Form: upright with straggling branches.
Similar species: Lonicera canadensis is the only Lonicera species with solid twigs and hairless stems and leaves.
Flowering: mid-April to early May
Habitat and ecology: In the Chicago Region known only from Berrien County, Michigan and LaPorte County, Indiana. It is locally frequent in mesic woods in Berrien County.
Occurence in the Chicago region: native
Etymology: Lonicera is named after Adam Lonicer (1528-1586), a German botanist and author. Canadensis means "of or from Canada and North America."
Author: The Morton Arboretum
This species has been reported from Pine Station, Lake County, and I found a single specimen in La Porte County. This is one of our rarest shrubs and may soon be extinct.
Shrub to 2 m, with straggling branches; lvs triangular-ovate to oblong, 3-12 cm, acute or obtuse, broadly cuneate to rounded at base, ciliate, glabrous to sparsely hairy beneath; peduncles axillary, 2-3 cm; bracts linear or subulate, from much shorter to slightly longer than the divergent separate ovaries; bractlets orbicular to elliptic, to 0.5 mm, or obsolete; cor yellowish, 12-22 mm, spurred at base, glabrous, its lobes subequal, a third to half as long as the tube; style glabrous; fr red; 2n=18. Dry or moist woods, seldom swamps; N.S. and e. Que. to Sask., s. to Pa., O., Ind. and Minn., and in the mts. to N.C. May, June. (Xylosteon canadense; X. ciliatum)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
