Mostly a soft-wooded shrub to about 2-4 m tall with corky bark and lenticels on the young shoots. Leaves to about 30 cm long, sometimes with slender stipules. Leaflets 3-5, ovate to elliptic, 4-7 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, with a pointed tip, the margins sharply toothed in the upper part. Flower clusters flat-topped, to about 20 cm wide. Flowers creamy white, with a rather unpleasant smell; spring to early summer. Fruit about 5 mm long, black.
W Asia, N Africa, Europe
Occasionally naturalised in SA, NSW, Vic and Tas.
Source: (2002). Caprifoliaceae. In: . 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.
Leaves deep yellow.
An old cultivar originating before 1883.
Leaves variegated with a border of cream-yellow. ['Variegata']
Possibly the same as 'Albomarginata' although the latter may have whiter variegations.