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
