Shrub to 2 m tall Leaves: opposite, 3 - 12 cm long, triangular- egg-shaped to oblong with broadly tapering to rounded base and pointed or rounded tip, thin, fringed with hairs, sometimes sparsely hairy beneath. Flowers: in pairs, borne on a 2 - 3 cm long axillary stalk, drooping. Bracts shorter to slightly longer than the ovaries, linear or awl-shaped. Calyx short, five-toothed. Corolla greenish yellow, 12 - 22 mm long, funnel-shaped, five-lobed. Stamens five. Ovaries separate, divergent. Fruit: a few-seeded berry, in pairs, widely divergent, reddish orange. Twigs: hairless. Form: upright with straggling branches.

Similar species: Lonicera canadensis is the only Lonicera species with solid twigs and hairless stems and leaves.

Flowering: mid-April to early May

Habitat and ecology: In the Chicago Region known only from Berrien County, Michigan and LaPorte County, Indiana. It is locally frequent in mesic woods in Berrien County.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Lonicera is named after Adam Lonicer (1528-1586), a German botanist and author. Canadensis means "of or from Canada and North America."

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Shrub to 2 m, with straggling branches; lvs triangular-ovate to oblong, 3-12 cm, acute or obtuse, broadly cuneate to rounded at base, ciliate, glabrous to sparsely hairy beneath; peduncles axillary, 2-3 cm; bracts linear or subulate, from much shorter to slightly longer than the divergent separate ovaries; bractlets orbicular to elliptic, to 0.5 mm, or obsolete; cor yellowish, 12-22 mm, spurred at base, glabrous, its lobes subequal, a third to half as long as the tube; style glabrous; fr red; 2n=18. Dry or moist woods, seldom swamps; N.S. and e. Que. to Sask., s. to Pa., O., Ind. and Minn., and in the mts. to N.C. May, June. (Xylosteon canadense; X. ciliatum)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

This species has been reported from Pine Station, Lake County, and I found a single specimen in La Porte County. This is one of our rarest shrubs and may soon be extinct.

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Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 10

Wetland Indicator Status: FACU