Lonicera pileata Oliver

An evergreen or partially deciduous shrub of low, spreading, neat habit; branches often horizontal; young shoots purple, very downy. Leaves box-like, ovate-oblong or somewhat lozenge-shaped, tapered at the base, blunt or rounded at the apex, 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. long, 1⁄6 to 1⁄2 in. wide, dark lustrous green, nearly glabrous on both surfaces, scarcely stalked. Flowers yellowish white, produced in May in very short-stalked pairs; corolla-tube downy outside, 1⁄4 in. long; stamens hairy, one and a half times the length of the corolla. The fruit is a translucent amethyst colour, 1⁄5 in. wide, and is invested at the top by a curious outgrowth from the calyx. Bot. Mag., t. 8060.

Native of China; discovered by Henry, and introduced for Messrs Veitch by Wilson in 1900. Although it has but little flower beauty, and is very shy in bearing fruit, its neat habit and dark shining foliage are pleasing. The pairs of leaves are often only from 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. apart on the shoot. Young plants are more inclined to be evergreen than older ones. It thrives well by the sea.