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Lonicera sempervirens L.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Lonicera sempervirens' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/lonicera/lonicera-sempervirens/). Accessed 2025-04-20.

Family

  • Caprifoliaceae

Genus

Common Names

  • Trumpet Honeysuckle

Glossary

corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
spike
Inflorescence in which flowers sessile on the main axis.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.
whorl
Arrangement of three or more organs (leaves flowers) around a central axis. whorled Arranged in a whorl.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Lonicera sempervirens' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/lonicera/lonicera-sempervirens/). Accessed 2025-04-20.

Lonicera sempervirens

The scentless flowers of Lonicera sempervirens are visited by hummingbirds, bees and butterflies (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas, USA; 12 March 2024). Image Julian Sutton.

A vigorous, climbing shrub, evergreen in mild localities; young shoots glabrous, glaucous. Leaves oval or somewhat obovate, 11⁄2 to 23⁄4 in. long, 3⁄4 to 2 in. wide, rich green and glabrous above, bluish and slightly downy beneath; stalk 1⁄4 in. or less long. One or two of the uppermost pairs of leaves are united and form a circular or oblong disk. Flowers unscented, rich orange scarlet outside, yellower within, 11⁄2 to 2 in. long, produced in three or four whorls (each whorl of usually six flowers), forming a terminal stalked spike. Corolla-tube slender, slightly swollen near the base; the four upper lobes are smaller than the lower one, but the corolla is not markedly two-lipped; style glabrous. Bot. Mag., t. 781.

Native of the eastern and southern United States, reaching as far north as Connecticut and westwards to Texas; introduced in 1656. This beautiful honey­suckle thrives best in the milder parts but is hardier than was once supposed and should succeed with the protection of a wall over much of the British Isles. It received an Award of Merit in 1964.

L. sempervirens is a parent of L. × brownii and L. × heckrottii.

Lonicera sempervirens

The rich orange-scarlet inflorescences of Lonicera sempervirens are unfortunately unscented. Barnage Farm, Ittre, Belgium. 07 May 2011. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Lonicera sempervirens

The leaves of Lonicera sempervirens are evergreen only in mild localities. Barnage Farm, Ittre, Belgium. 07 May 2011. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Lonicera sempervirens

The rich orange-scarlet inflorescences of Lonicera sempervirens are produced in three or four whorls, forming a terminal spike. Barnage Farm, Ittre, Belgium. 07 May 2011. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Lonicera sempervirens

Close-up on the rich orange-scarlet unscented flowers of Lonicera sempervirens. Barnage Farm, Ittre, Belgium. 07 May 2011. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

f. sulphurea (Jacques) Rehd

Corollas yellow on the outside. Occasional in the wild state.

'Magnifica'

Said to have bright red flowers.

'Superba'

Leaves broadly oval. Corollas orange-scarlet on the outside (Gartenfl. (1853), p. 3).

var. minor Ait

Described by Aiton in 1789 as a variety with oblong leaves. The plant discussed and figured under this name in Bot. Mag., t. 1753 (1815) was from a reintroduction by Frasers’ nursery of Sloane Square, London. It was said to have come from Carolina and to be more delicate, with slenderer flowers, than the plants from Virginia. Philip Miller also made a distinction between the Carolina and Virginia forms: ‘The old sort, which came from Virginia, has stronger shoots; the leaves are of a brighter green; the bunches of flowers are larger, and deeper coloured, than the other which came from Carolina’ (Gard. Dict., 1768). The distinction seems to have some basis, in that plants answering to the description of var. minor have a more southerly distribution than the type, and might be expected to be more tender.

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