Lonicera japonica Thunb.

Japanese Honeysuckle

Evergreen climber. Stems hollow. Leaves hairy at first, elliptic to ovate, 3-7 cm long, occasionally lobed. Flowers in axillary pairs, each 3-5 cm long, fragrant, white, often purple-tinged, becoming yellow; late spring to early summer.

E Asia

Recorded as a serious weed in the Sydney district but also apparent in SA and north of the ACT through NSW into Qld, mostly in moist gullies.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Caprifoliaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

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Distribution map

Lonicera japonica 'Alba'

Flowers white.

Lonicera japonica 'Aureoreticulata'

Compact groundcover, the smallish leaves with golden veins and sometimes lobed. ['Reticulata']

Introduced R. Fortune, c. 1862.

Lonicera japonica 'Halliana'

Leaves hairy on both surfaces at first, dark green. Flowers white at first, sometimes with reddish shades but becoming yellow, the upper lip divided almost to the middle.

Introduced Dr George Hall to Parson's Nursery, Flushing, USA, 1862.

Lonicera japonica 'Purpurea'

Leaves purplish. Flowers purplish outside, white inside.

kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Asteranae
order      Dipsacales
family       Caprifoliaceae
genus        Lonicera L.