A modern reference to temperate woody plants, including updated content from this site and much new material, can be found at Trees and Shrubs Online.

Lonicera prolifera (Kirchn.) Rehd.

Modern name

Lonicera prolifera (Kirchner) Booth ex Rehder

Synonyms

Caprifolium proliferum Kirchn.; L. sullivantii A. Gray

A deciduous spreading shrub, with stems up to 6 ft long, lax, but scarcely climbing. Leaves oval, obovate or oblong, 2 to 4 in. long, 114 to 212 in. wide, glaucous and slightly downy beneath, more glaucous on the upper side, one or more of the upper pairs are united at the base, and form a roundish disk clasping the stem; of thickish substance. Flowers yellow, not fragrant, produced in June at the end of the current season’s growth in a terminal stalked spike, composed of two or more whorls, sometimes branched at the base. Corolla two-lipped, about 1 in. long, the tube longer than the lips, slender, slightly swollen on one side; glabrous outside; style slightly hairy. Berries reddish yellow, 14 to 12 in. diameter.

Native of central N. America; long grown in gardens – in early times as “L. flava”, which is a rarer and more beautiful shrub than L. prolifera. The latter is closer to L. dioica, a species distinguished by its shorter corolla, the tube of which is about as long as the lips, the leaves and style quite glabrous. L. prolifera does not need a support except when quite young and may be grown in the open as an elegant, loose bush.


Genus

Lonicera

Other species in the genus