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Scientific Name
Synonyms
Family
Common Names
Origin
Cultivation
Naturalised Distribution
Habitat
Habit
Distinguishing Features
Stems and Leaves
Flowers and Fruit
Reproduction and Dispersal
Environmental Impact
Legislation
Management
Similar Species
Print Fact Sheet
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Click on images to enlarge

habit in flower (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

climbing habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

scrambling habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

very old woody stem (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

leaves borne on older stems (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

leaves boren on new growth (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

leaves and younger flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

older yellowish-coloured flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

paired leaves, reddish stems and pinkish-tinged flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of flowers, with wider four-lobed upper lips and narrow single-lobed lower lips (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of older flower from side-on, showing the long flower tube (Photo: Greg Jordan)

shiny black mature fruit (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

Lonicera japonica

Scientific Name

Lonicera japonica Thunb.

Synonyms

Caprifolium japonicum (Thunb.) Dum. Cours.
Nintooa japonica (Thunb.) Sweet

Family

Caprifoliaceae

Common Names

Chinese honeysuckle, gold and silver flower, Hall's honeysuckle, honeysuckle, Japanese honeysuckle, woodbine

Origin

Native to eastern Asia (i.e. eastern China, Korea and Japan).

Cultivation

Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is widely and commonly cultivated as a garden ornamental in Australia.

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in southern and eastern Australia. It is common in south-eastern Queensland, the coastal and sub-coastal districts of eastern New South Wales, the ACT, many parts of Victoria, Tasmania, south-eastern South Australia and south-western Western Australia. Also recorded from northern Queensland and naturalised on Norfolk Island.

Widely naturalised in other parts of the world including the UK, central Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, Hawaii, the USA and southern South America.

Habitat

This species has mainly become naturalised in or near rainforests and other closed forests, particularly those close to habitation. It also grows in riparian areas, distrubed sites and waste areas in wetter temperate, sub-tropical and tropical regions.

Habit

A woody climber or scrambler with stems growing up to 10 m long.

Distinguishing Features

Stems and Leaves

The younger stems are greenish or reddish in colour and usually have a dense covering of tiny hairs (i.e. they are finely pubescent). Older stems may become quite thick and woody, developing a greyish-coloured bark as they age.

The oppositely arranged leaves are generally hairless (i.e. glabrous) or sparsely hairy (i.e. puberulent) and are borne on short stalks (i.e. petioles) 3-10 mm long. These leaves (2.5-8 cm long and 1-4 cm wide) are usually oblong or egg-shaped in outline (i.e. ovate) with entire margins and pointed or rounded tips (i.e. acute or obtuse apices). However, leaves on seedlings and young plants may be somewhat lobed.

Flowers and Fruit

The fragrant flowers (4-5 cm long) are arranged in pairs in the forks (i.e. axils) of the upper leaves. They are surrounded by several pairs of green leafy bracts (5-20 mm long) and borne on stalks (i.e. peduncles) 5-50 mm long. Their petals are fused into a tube (i.e. corolla) for part of their length and then separate into two 'lips'. The upper lip is much wider and has four lobes at its tip, while the lower lip has a single lobe. These flowers are initially white in colour, though their outsides may be tinged with pink or purple, and they usually turn cream or yellowish with age. Flowering occurs mostly in autumn.

The egg-shaped (i.e. ovoid) fruit are shiny black berries (5-10 mm long), each containing a few seeds.

Reproduction and Dispersal

This species occasionally reproduces by seed, but more commonly it spreads vegetatively via its creeping stems which produce roots at their joints (i.e. via stolons).

Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) seeds are dispersed by birds and other animals that eat the fruit, while the seeds and stem segments are also spread by water, in dumped garden waste, by slashers and in contaminated soil.

Environmental Impact

Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is regarded as an environmental weed in Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. This species is actively managed by community groups in New South Wales and was recently listed as a priority environmental weed in six Natural Resource Management regions. It also appears in the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD).

Legislation

This species is declared under legislation in the following states and territories:

Management

For information on the management of this species see the following resources:

Similar Species

Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) can be confused with winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) and European honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum). However, these species can be distinguished by the following differences: