Lonicera dioica L.

A spreading or twining deciduous shrub; young stems and leaves quite glabrous. Leaves oval or oblong, tapered at both ends, 11⁄2 to 4 in. long, 1 to 2 in. wide, green above, vividly glaucous beneath. Flowers yellow, tinged with purple, produced during June and July in terminal clusters, two or more pairs of leaves beneath being united. Corolla two-lipped, 3⁄4 in. long, the tube about equal to the lips in length, swollen at the base, glabrous outside. Berries red.

Native of eastern N. America; introduced in 1776. This honeysuckle succeeds very well under cultivation in a good garden soil; if given the support of a stout central stake, it will form a low, spreading, rather elegant bush, and although without any great beauty of flower is striking for the very glaucous undersurface of the leaf.

Nearly allied to the above, and sometimes confused with it, is L. glaucescens Rydb. This differs chiefly in having the leaves downy beneath and the corolla downy outside; as a rule only the uppermost pair of leaves is united. The style and the base of the stamens are downy; the corolla-tube rather longer than the lips. It has a more western distribution than L. dioica.