Japanese honeysuckle is a sweet-smelling Asian vine that has become a major in much of the eastern United States. Its fresh flowers are white and turn yellow with age, so both colors often appear on one vine.
Appearance
Growth form
This woody vine trails across the ground or twines over shrubs and small trees. Stems can extend 18 ft (5.5 m) or more and root where nodes touch the soil.
Leaves
Leaves grow in opposite pairs and are usually oval. Early spring leaves may be lobed, while upper leaf pairs remain separate rather than fusing around the stem.
Flowers
Fragrant tubular flowers grow in pairs from the . They open white or pink-tinged and fade to yellow.
Flowering time
In the eastern United States, flowering commonly starts in spring and can continue into summer; the timing varies by place.
Fruit
Small glossy black berries ripen from late summer through fall.
Coral honeysuckle has red to orange flowers in clusters at stem tips, red berries, and fused upper leaf pairs. Japanese honeysuckle has paired white-to-yellow flowers along the stem, black berries, and separate upper leaves.
Why they get mixed up · Both are twining honeysuckle vines grown or found wild in the eastern United States.
Amur honeysuckle is an upright deciduous shrub with red berries. Japanese honeysuckle is a trailing or climbing vine with black berries.
Why they get mixed up · Both invasive honeysuckles have fragrant pale flowers that yellow with age.
Where it lives
Typical habitats
forest edges
old fields
roadsides
floodplains
Range
It was introduced to the United States in the early 1800s and is now widespread from the Northeast through the Southeast and parts of the Midwest. It is most aggressive in disturbed, sunny or partly shaded places in the eastern states.
Preferred conditions
It grows most vigorously with ample light and moisture but can persist beneath a forest canopy until a gap opens.
Flowering
Flowers Apr–Sep
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Flowers
Flowers Apr–Sep
Life cycle
Seed dispersal
Birds and other animals eat the berries and carry the seeds to new places.
Growing it
Propagation
The vine spreads by seed, underground stems, and aboveground runners that root at the nodes.
Name and classification
Varieties and forms
The yellow-veined cultivar 'Aureoreticulata' and the fragrant garden cultivar 'Halliana' are cultivated forms of this species.
Conservation
IUCN Red List
NENot Evaluated·Not yet assessed
Threats
Dense mats shade out native plants, suppress tree seedlings, and can pull down small shrubs and trees.
Culture and stories
Culture and stories
It was once planted for ornament, erosion control, and wildlife cover before its invasive effects were widely recognized.
The flowers hold a drop of nectar, but planting this invasive vine can help it spread into natural areas.