Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in North America and Eurasia. Widely known species include Lonicera periclymenum, Lonicera japonica and Lonicera sempervirens. L. japonica is an aggressive, highly invasive species considered as a significant pest on the continents of North America, Europe, South America, Australia, and Africa.
The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species in 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and eastern Asia, while they are absent in tropical and southern Africa.
Lonicera japonica, known as Japanese honeysuckle and golden-and-silver honeysuckle, is a species of honeysuckle native to eastern Asia. It is often grown as an ornamental plant, but has become an invasive species in a number of countries. Japanese honeysuckle is used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Lonicera etrusca is a species of honeysuckle known by the common name Etruscan honeysuckle. It is native to Southern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa and it is known elsewhere, including the Pacific Northwest of North America, as an introduced species where it has escaped cultivation. It is kept in gardens as an ornamental plant.
Lonicera periclymenum, common names honeysuckle, common honeysuckle, European honeysuckle, or woodbine, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae native to much of Europe, North Africa, Turkey and the Caucasus. It is found as far north as southern Norway and Sweden.
Hyacinthus orientalis, the common hyacinth, garden hyacinth or Dutch hyacinth, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloidiae, native to southwestern Asia, southern and central Turkey, northwestern Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel. It was introduced to Europe in the 16th century. It is widely cultivated everywhere in the temperate world for its strongly fragrant flowers which appear exceptionally early in the season, and frequently forced to flower at Christmas time.
Linnaea × grandiflora, synonym Abelia × grandiflora, is a hybrid species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae, raised by hybridising L. chinensis with L. uniflora.
Wisteria sinensis, commonly known as the Chinese wisteria, is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, native to China, in the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Yunnan. Growing 20–30 m (66–98 ft) tall, it is a deciduous vine. It is widely cultivated in temperate regions for its twisting stems and masses of scented flowers in hanging racemes, in spring.
Rhododendron viscosum, the swamp azalea, clammy azalea or swamp honeysuckle, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae. This deciduous shrub, growing to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) tall and broad, is native to the eastern United States. It has rounded matt green leaves. In early summer it produces funnel-shaped white flowers flushed pink. The flowers have prominent stamens and are strongly fragrant.
Lonicera involucrata, the bearberry honeysuckle, bracted honeysuckle, twinberry honeysuckle, Californian Honeysuckle, twin-berry, or black twinberry, is a species of honeysuckle native to northern and western North America, from southern Alaska east across boreal Canada to Quebec, and south through the western United States to California, and to Chihuahua in northwestern Mexico. It grows at elevations from sea level to 2,900 m.
Lonicera maackii, the Amur honeysuckle, is a species of honeysuckle in the family Caprifoliaceae that is native to temperate western Asia; specifically in northern and western China south to Yunnan, Mongolia, Primorsky Krai in southeastern Siberia, Korea, and, albeit rare there, central and northern Honshū, Japan.
Lonicera sempervirens is a species of honeysuckle vine native to the eastern United States which is known for its reddish flowers.
Lonicera nitida is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family. In English, it is sometimes given the common names box honeysuckle or Wilson's honeysuckle. It is widely used as a low hedging plant, and for topiary. It is also a popular low-maintenance ground cover plant for urban landscaping.
Rhamnus alaternus is a species of flowering plant in the buckthorn family known by the common names Italian buckthorn or Mediterranean buckthorn. It is a hardy medium-sized evergreen shrub with fragrant flowers.
Lespedeza bicolor is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names shrubby bushclover, shrub lespedeza, and bicolor lespedeza. It is native to Asia and it is widely grown as an ornamental plant. In some regions, such as the southeastern United States, it grows in the wild as an introduced and invasive species.
Lonicera utahensis is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family known by the common names Utah honeysuckle, red twinberry, and fly honeysuckle. It is native to western North America from British Columbia, Washington (state), and Oregon, east to Alberta and Montana and south through the Rocky Mountains to Arizona and New Mexico.
Lonicera similis is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to Western China. This honeysuckle is known in cultivation by the variety delavayi which is reported by some authorities to be synonymous with L. similis itself. It is a large, twining, semi-evergreen shrub growing to 8 m (26 ft) tall by 1.5 m (4.9 ft) broad, with a profusion of fragrant tubular flowers opening white and ageing to yellow, in late summer and autumn. The flowers are followed by black berries. The Latin specific epithet similis means “similar to”. It is similar in appearance to L. japonica, but larger and more robust. The name delavayi honours the French missionary and botanist Père Jean Marie Delavay (1834-1895).
Lonicera hildebrandiana, the giant Burmese honeysuckle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to southeast Asia, in China, Thailand and Burma. Growing to at least 10 m (33 ft) tall and 8 m (26 ft) broad, with flowers and leaves up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long, this climbing, twining shrub is by far the largest of all the honeysuckles. The evergreen leaves are glossy, and the long thin tubular flowers open cream, turning to yellow and orange. The flowers, which have a strong honeysuckle fragrance, appear in pairs intermittently from spring throughout summer, and are followed in autumn by green berries.
Lonicera × bella, known as Bell's honeysuckle and showy fly honeysuckle, is a hybrid species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae. It was first described by Hermann Zabel in 1889. Zabel reported that he grew it in cultivation from seeds obtained from a plant of Lonicera morrowii, but that its appearance suggested the influence of L. tatarica. It has escaped from cultivation and become an aggressive invasive species in central and eastern parts of the United States.
Lonicera × purpusii, the Purpus honeysuckle, is a hybrid species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae. It originated as a cross of garden origin between two Chinese species, L. fragrantissima and L. standishii.
