Japanese honeysuckle
Lonicera japonica Thunb.
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Form & Habitat
Japanese honeysuckle form and habitat Japanese honeysuckle form and habitat
Leaves
Japanese honeysuckle leaves
Twigs
Bark
Flowers
Japanese honeysuckle flowers (buds) Japanese honeysuckle flowers Japanese honeysuckle flowers Japanese honeysuckle flowers Japanese honeysuckle flowers Japanese honeysuckle flowers Japanese honeysuckle flowers Japanese honeysuckle flowers
Fruit
Japanese honeysuckle fruit (immature) Japanese honeysuckle fruit (mature) Japanese honeysuckle fruit (mature)
  • FAMILY: CAPRIFOLIACEAE
  • ALTERNATE COMMON NAME:
  • LEAVES: evergreen, opposite, simple, short-petiolate; blades ovate, elliptic or oblong, 1.5-3” long by 0.6-1” wide, dull dark green above, paler green below, bases rounded, tips acute to obtuse, margins entire (leaves of new spring shoots are often pinnately lobed or coarsely toothed), blades usually pubescent along the midrib on both surfaces and along the margins, petioles pubescent
  • FLOWER: bisexual, fragrant, corollas tubular, to ca. 2” long, white or cream-colored, becoming yellow with age, having a long tube expanded at summit into a two-lipped limb, the upper lip having 4 petals and lower lip 1; flowers axillary, usually in pairs, subtended by a pair of small bracteal leaves; flowering in spring
  • FRUIT: black, rounded berry, ca. 0.25” broad, maturing in fall
  • BARK: reddish brown, pubescent on younger stems, glabrous with age; bark exfoliating and becoming shreddy on older stems
  • FORM: twining high climbing or trailing woody vine
  • HABITAT: mesic forest understories, forest edges, fencerows, old fields, roadsides
  • WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative (FAC): Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
  • RANGE: native to Korea; naturalized in eastern US, also found in the western US where it is scattered  [Global Range Map]  [US County Range Map]
  • USES: ornamental, but difficult to control
  • WILDLIFE: excellent deer browse; fruit consumed by birds; wildlife cover
    • Best Recognition Features:
    1. unarmed vine with opposite simple leaves
    2. climbing by twining
    3. distinctive fragrant tubular, two-lipped flowers in spring
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