Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
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'Lonicera giraldii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Under Lonicera giraldii, L. henryi and L. alseuosmoides, Bean discussed three species now treated as synonyms of L. acuminata (POWO 23/6/2025), a highly variable species in need of further study (Yang et al. 2011). Material in cultivation under these names appears to be quite distinct, however, so for the time being we retain Bean’s treatments under their original names, pending a full, revised treatment of Lonicera to be undertaken when funds permit. If you would like to sponsor the account of this genus please write to editor@treesandshrubsonline.org
An evergreen climber forming a dense tangle of twining branches, thickly clothed with yellowish erect hairs when young. Leaves narrowly oblong, with a lance-shaped apex and a heart-shaped base, 11⁄2 to 31⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide, densely hairy on both sides; stalk 1⁄3 in. or less long, hairy. Flowers purplish red, borne in a short terminal panicle 11⁄2 in. across; corolla two-lipped, 3⁄4 in. wide, yellowish hairy outside; the tube slender, 1⁄2 in. long; the entire flower 1 in. long; bracts inconspicuous. Fruits purplish black. Bot. Mag., t. 8236.
Native of Szechwan, China, whence it was introduced to France in 1899, and first grown by Maurice de Vilmorin. I first saw it growing against a wall in the garden of Phillipe de Vilmorin at Verrières-le-Buisson, near Paris, in June 1908, then in flower. Plants were obtained for Kew the following autumn, and these, so far as I am aware, represent its first introduction to Britain. As I saw it, it was a striking honeysuckle forming a dense thicket, the whole plant having a yellowish tinge, very downy, the rather small flower clusters striking in the contrast of lurid red corolla and yellow stamens. It is hardy in the south and west of England.
It belongs to the same group as L. japonica (sect. Nintooa).