Northern Bush Honeysuckle


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Northern Bush Honeysuckle, Diervilla Ionicers Mill.
Caprifoliacese

Height: A low, spreading or scrambling shrub.s

Twigs: Have 4 slender ridges that are densely hairy when new. Older branches are smooth and usually have scaling bark. There are several scales at the base of the twig.

Buds: Have 4 or more hairy-margined scales. Each leaf scar has 3 bundle scars.

Leaves: Opposite, elliptical, oval or ovate, rounded at the base and tapering at the tip, 5-10 cm long. They are dark green and slightly wrinkled above, paler beneath. The margin is finely toothed and hairy. The midrib and main veins are also sometimes hairy.

Flowers: Mostly in clusters of 3 at the ends of the branches (cymose) or in the axils of the upper leaves. They are tubular or funnel-shaped with 5 spreading petal tips, and honey-yellow to orange or scarlet in color, 1.2-1.8 cm long, and downy. The stamens and pistil project beyond the corolla. Blooms in early July to early August.

Fruit: Smooth, slender-pointed, 2 valve capsule, bearing 5 calyx lobes at the tip. The seeds are shed in the late fall.

Habitat: Found at the edge of the forest, along brooks and shores, in dry woods, clearings, and rocky places. There are no records from the Great Northern Peninsula and Labrador.

Source: Native Trees and Shrubs
of Newfoundland and Labrador
By A. Glen Ryan

Used with permission from
Parks and Natural Areas Division
Department of Environment and Conservation
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador 1995

 

 

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