Lonicera L.
Honeysuckle
Lonicera is that genus of honeysuckles. The genus name is for German Renaissance botanist and professor of mathematics Adam Lonicer (1528–1586). These hardy, attractive shrubs have long been popular with landscapers.
Here, we split honeysuckles into three categories:
- Native honeysuckles are in balance with their habitats, and well-behaved.
- Honeysuckles that originated elsewhere, usually in Asia, were brought here by well-meaning horticulturists. But the things that keep them in check in their native environments, such as insects and competing plants, didn’t come along too. This is the recipe for an invasive species. All the non-native honeysuckles are no longer recommended for planting in North America.
- Finally, a third category is comprised of shrubs that resemble honeysuckles closely enough to mention here.
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North America native honeysuckles. |
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Non-native invasive honeysuckles. |
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Honeysuckles that aren’t—other species that resemble honeysuckles. |
(Lonicera) · 9/18/2009 · Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine · ≈ 11 × 9″ (28 × 22 cm) 
Species not yet identified 
American fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis) · 6/4/2016 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area,, Hollis, New Hampshire 
American fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis) · 4/23/2023 · Butler Head Preserve, Bath, Maine 
Winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) · 9/7/2010 · New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, Boylston, Massachusetts 
Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) · Flowers turn from white to yellow as they age. · 5/5/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (17 × 11 cm) 
Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) · 6/19/2011 · New Jersey · ≈ 5 × 4½″ (12 × 11 cm) 
Trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) · 5/25/2009 · Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Superior, Arizona · ≈ 4 × 2½″ (11 × 6.7 cm) 
Tatarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica) · 5/7/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Massachusetts · ≈ 5 × 3½″ (13 × 9.2 cm) 
Tatarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica) · 5/4/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, East Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 4½ × 3″ (11 × 7.9 cm) ID is uncertain 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Asteridae | A large class that encompasses asters |
| Order | Dipsacales | Includes viburnum, honeysuckle, snowberry, beautybush, twinflower, many others |
| Family | Caprifoliaceae | Honeysuckle family |
| Genus | Lonicera | Either Latin for honeysuckle, though this is not a “true” honeysuckle; or named for Adam Lonitzer (1528-1586), a German herbalist, physician and botanist who wrote a standard herbal text that was reprinted many times between 1557 and 1783 |
Lonicera description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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