Japanese Honeysuckle

In the Shenandoah Valley we have both the bush and vine varieties of Honeysuckle, immigrant and native.

This vining variety, a naturalized exotic, originated in Asia, as did another exotic, the Bush Honeysuckle.

The third member of the Lonicera family on display in the Gallery is the native Trumpet Honeysuckle, a red-blossomed vine.

Lonicera japonica seems to be unanimously despised as an invasive species in the United States.* (Besides the Honeysuckles, other immigrant plants in the Gallery that are universally condemned, especially among farmers, are Autumn Olive and Rosa Multiflora.)

But because its rampant growth is encountered all along fence lines and the edges of fields in rural areas, Japanese Honeysuckle—also known as Chinese Honeysuckle—is what comes to mind when I think of Honeysuckle.

In the Valley of Virginia it begins to bloom in May, a few weeks after the, perhaps, less-familiar and maybe not so despised, bush variety.

The leaves of the bush Lonicera, Morrow's Honeysuckle, are a darker green and its woody branches contain fewer flowers.

When viewed from a distance it doesn't have the yellowish cast characteristic of its fellow immigrant vining cousin.

The Japanese/Chinese Honeysuckle common name, as well as the Japonica suffix in the scientific name, hark back to the origins of the plant: This flowering vine was originally found in China and Korea, was subsequently introduced to gardens in British Hong Kong in the 19th century, from there to Great Britain, and finally was carried across the Atlantic to New York in 1862.

By the turn of the 20th century it was reported to be naturalized from the Florida to Massachusetts. As one naturalist said, L. japonica had snarled the countryside in "a network of tangled cords that covers the ground wherever this ruthless invader gets a foot hold."

The flowers of both types are similar, differing in the fineness of the fresh blossoms.

The bush variety, Morrow's Honeysuckle, to the left, has the most delicate and also the smallest blossom of the three in the Gallery.

It may be its tendency to drop the spent blossoms more quickly, or perhaps it is the background provided by the darker green leaves, but to my eye, its blossoms are a purer white than those of L. japonica.

The vine type has heavier and more numerous blossoms, and retains the yellowish spent blooms longer than other Lonicera.

A little messy sometimes, but it has one redeeming characteristic: fragrance.

The sweet perfume given off by these blooms spreads far beyond the vine; it was almost overwhelming when I took these close-ups one evening just at sunset.

* Invasive? Yes, this vine will take over an area. But this occurs most often on disturbed or overgrown land, as is the case on my fence line, which I give only a minimum of maintenance so as to provide habitat for birds. And even here, there is some good to come from aggressive growth: the Japanese Honeysuckle has overcome my bane among the lilies, Rosa Multiflora.

This is a good thing, as Martha says, and besides, L. Japonica smells good too!

Go to the Main Directory to consider more lilies of the field.

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