Biorepository Data Portal

Shrub to 1 m tall Leaves: opposite, short-stalked, 8 - 15 cm long, oblong- lance-shaped to oblong- egg-shaped with long-pointed tip, minutely toothed, fringed with hairs, sometimes hairy beneath. Flowers: in short-stalked clusters of three to seven (mostly three), borne in leaf axils and on branch tips. Sepals five, small. Corolla yellow, turning reddish with age, 1 - 2 cm long, narrow, funnel-shaped or tubular, five-lobed, lobes spreading, hairy within. Stamens usually five. Fruit: a slender, dehiscent capsule, brown, 8 - 15 mm long, long-beaked with thin hairs flaring out at the tip. Twigs: round, slender, greenish red, becoming light brown.

Similar species: The toothed leaves easily distinguish Diervilla lonicera from other Honeysuckles of the genus Lonicera.

Flowering: late May to late August

Habitat and ecology: Occasional in sandy woods. It is also found in shaded places, such as ravines and on rocky slopes.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Diervilla is named after M. Dierville, a French surgeon that introduced Diervilla lonicera. Lonicera is named after Adam Lonicer (1528-1586), a German botanist and author.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Shrub to 12 dm; twigs terete; petioles 3-10 mm; lvs oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, 8-15 cm, acuminate, serrulate, ciliate-margined, sometimes also hairy beneath; peduncles 3-7-fld; cal-lobes 4-5 mm; cor 12-20 mm, yellow, turning reddish, hairy within; fr slender, beaked, 8-15 mm, tardily dehiscent; 2n=36. Dry or rocky soil; Nf. to Sask., s. to N.C., Tenn., Ind. and Io. June, July. (D. diervilla)

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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