Shrub to 5 m tall

Leaves: opposite, short-stalked, 3.5 - 8.5 cm long, lance-shaped to egg-shaped, fringed with minute hairs, hairy at least on the veins.

Flowers: in pairs, on stalks shorter than leaf stalks, axillary. Calyx green, short, five-lobed, and hairy. Corolla more or less distinctly two-lipped, white, turning yellow, 1.5 - 2 cm long, tubular, five-lobed (upper lip four-lobed, lower lip a single lobe), hairy outside. Corolla tube short, usually hairless on the outside. Stamens five, exserted. Anthers yellow. Style exserted, white, and hairy.

Fruit: a few-seeded berry, in pairs, dark red, 4 - 8 mm wide, rounded.

Twigs: hairy, hollow.

Form: upright.

Similar species: Lonicera maackii is the only Lonicera shrub having flower stalks shorter than the leaf stalks.

Flowering: May to early June

Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Asia for horticultural purposes. This aggressive, invasive shrub has escaped from cultivation and is found in a variety of habitats, including woods, woodland borders, thickets, roadsides, railroad right-of-ways, old fields, and lawns. The seeds are dispersed by birds, which enable it to spread rapidly.

Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native

Etymology: Lonicera is named after Adam Lonicer (1528-1586), a German botanist and author. Maackii is named after Richard Maack (1825-1886), a Russian naturalist.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Shrub to 5 m; lvs ovate to lance-ovate, 3.5-8.5 cm, acuminate, short- petioled, pubescent at least on the veins; fls paired on peduncles shorter than the petioles, the cor white, turning yellow, 15-20 mm, ±distinctly bilabiate, the tube short and not gibbous, usually glabrous outside; style hairy; fr dark red; 2n=18. Native of Asia, escaped and becoming established in our range, as in N.Y., Md., Ky., and O.

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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