2. Lonicera dioica L. (limber honeysuckle, wild honeysuckle, red honeysuckle)
L. dioica var. glaucescens (Rydb.) Butters
Map 1422, Pl.
334 g, h
Plants lianas to
4 m or more long, the main stems loosely twining toward the tips, climbing on
adjacent vegetation (sometimes twining on themselves and forming loose mounds)
or more or less trailing on the ground. Twigs glabrous, the pith hollow, the
bark of older branches becoming shredded. Winter buds ovoid but somewhat
flattened, glabrous. Leaf blades mostly 3–9 cm long, 2.0–6.5 cm wide, mostly
elliptic, rounded or more commonly angled at the base, rounded or more commonly
angled or tapered to a bluntly or sharply pointed tip, those of the uppermost 1
or few pairs strongly perfoliate, 1.2–2.2 times as long as wide, the pair
broadly elliptic to oblong-elliptic in overall outline, rounded or broadly
angled to bluntly pointed tips, sometimes abruptly tapered to minute, sharp
points, the upper surface glabrous and bright green (that of the perfoliate
leaves sometimes slightly glaucous toward the center), the undersurface
glabrous or sparsely to moderately and evenly pubescent with soft, more or less
spreading hairs, very strongly glaucous (sometimes almost white). Flowers in 1
or 2 whorls of 6 at the branch tips, the flowers sessile, the 2 bracts each 4–6
mm long, free, very broadly triangular, glabrous, the pair of bractlets on
opposite sides of each flower minute (0.3–0.5 mm long), free, oblong to broadly
ovate. Calyces glabrous, the lobes 0.2–0.4 mm long, semicircular to broadly
oblong-rounded, often pale or whitened. Corollas 20–30 mm long, strongly
zygomorphic, divided 1/3–1/2 of the way to the base into 2 recurved-curled lips
of about equal length, the upper lip shallowly (3)4-lobed, the lower lip with 1
lobe, the tube weakly swollen or pouched on the lower side near the base, white
to lemon yellow and pinkish-tinged (rarely nearly red), not changing color
after pollination. Stamens and style exserted from the corolla, slightly longer
than the corolla lobes, the style sparsely to densely hairy. Ovaries free.
Fruits 5–10 mm in diameter, orangish red to red. 2n=18. April–June.
Uncommon, widely
scattered in the state (eastern [mostly northeastern] U.S. west to North
Dakota, Wyoming, and Oklahoma; Canada). Bases and ledges of bluffs, mesic
upland forests, and banks of streams and rivers; rarely also fencerows.
Plants with pubescent
leaves and densely pubescent styles have been called var. glaucescens,
but Perino (1978) studied patterns of morphological variation across the
species range and concluded that the pubescence patterns showed complete
intergradation.