Climbing Honeysuckles
What are they?
The honeysuckle family contains quite a wide range of mostly woody shrubs and climbers and it is the climbing members of the family that are most familiar and which are covered on this page. These plants often have highly fragrant flowers that make them attractive to insect pollinators (including hawk moths) and popular as garden plants. The flowers have five petals, fused into a tube for much of their length. At the mouth, four petals are fused to form the top half of the flower with a single petal in the lower half. Honeysuckles have no tendrils or suckers, but instead they climb by means of tightly twining stems. Our native Common Honeysuckle is often known as Woodbine, for its distinctively twining stems.
Non-climbing members of the family often have similar flowers to those of the climbing species, but others have shorter flower tubes of a more regular shape. You can go straight to shrubby honeysuckles by clicking here.
Where are they found?
Our native honeysuckle is common in woodland clearings, woodland edge and along hedgerows. The introduced species are uncommon but occasionally found where planted out in the wider countryside or as survivors from abandoned plots or where garden waste is left.
Identification
The flower colour of honeysuckles can be rather variable and actually changes according to the age of the flower (generally darkening or becoming redder/pinker with age) so is only loosely useful for identification. However, general flower colour, coupled with leaf shape should identify the various species. The hybrids are more tricky to separate and require noting details of the uppermost leaves, the presence or absence of flower bracts in the flowerhead, plus the colour of the berries.
Common Honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum
Native and common throughout most of East Anglia in a wide range of wooded and semi-wooded habitats, including wetlands. Flowers June to September. A very variable species, with flowers ranging from creamy-white to deeply tinged with pink on the outside (the latter being especially popular as garden varieties). All leaves in opposite pairs, the upper ones not joining together around the stem; variably hairy or smooth. Flowers with small bracteoles at their bases (1-2mm in length). Ripe berries deep red.
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Italian Honeysuckle Lonicera x italica
A hybrid of cultivated origin which is very commonly planted and has been recorded in the wider countryside a handful of times. Flowers May to July. Upper two or three pairs of leaves join together around the stem; only lightly hairy, or more often smooth. Flowers with small bracteoles at their bases (1.5-2mm in length). Ripe berries orange-red.
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Japanese Honeysuckle Lonicera japonica
Introduced from eastern Asia as a garden ornamental and recorded just a handful of times, most notably on the North Norfolk coast, where a large colony has become established at Cley-next-the-sea on the coastal defence bank. Flowers June to October. Flowers typically honey-yellow to cream, without pink tones. Semi-evergreen, the leaves dropping in cold winters. Stems downy. Ripe berries black. Note that, in common with many shrubby members of the family, leaves on more vigorous growths can have lobed margins.
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Henry's Honeysuckle Lonicera acuminata
(Lonicera henryi) Introduced from China as a garden ornamental and recently recorded from a roadside hedge in North Norfolk. Flowers June to August. The elongate, evergreen leaves and bristly hairy stems are distinctive. Ripe berries blue-black.
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