Japanese honeysuckle
(Lonicera japonica Thunb.)

Overview

Appearance

Lonicera japonica is a woody perennial, evergreen to semi-evergreen vine that can be found either trailing or climbing to over 80 ft. (24 m) in length. Young stems may be pubescent while older stems are glabrous.

Foliage

Leaves are opposite, pubescent, oval and 1-2.5 in. (2.5-6.4 cm) long. Margins are usually entire but young leaves may be lobed or toothed.

Flowers

Flowering occurs from April to July, when showy, fragrant, tubular, whitish-pink flowers develop in the axils of the leaves. The flowers turn cream-yellow as they age.

Fruit

The small shiny globular fruits turn from green to black as they ripen. Each fruit contains 2-3 small brown to black ovate seeds.

Ecological Threat

Lonicera japonica invades a wide variety of habitats including forest floors, canopies, roadsides, wetlands, and disturbed areas. It can girdle small saplings by twining around them, and can form dense mats in the canopies of trees, shading everything below. A native of eastern Asia, it was first introduced into North America in 1806 in Long Island, NY. Lonicera japonica has been planted widely throughout the United States as an ornamental, for erosion control, and for wildlife habitat.

Resources

• A Field Guide for the Identification of Invasive Plants in Southern Forests - USDA Forest Service
• Element Stewardship Abstract - The Nature Conservancy
• Weeds Gone Wild: Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas - Plant Conservation Alliance
• Fire Effects Information System - USDA Forest Service
• Weed of the Week - USDA Forest Service
• Invasive Species Management Plans for Florida - University of Florida - Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants
• Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas - National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Selected Images

Maps

Invasive Listing Sources

• Alabama Invasive Plant Council
• Alachua County Cogongrass Initiative
• Apalachicola Invasive Working Group
• City of Ann Arbor Michigan Parks and Recreation
• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, 1994.
• Connecticut Invasive Plant List
• Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group
• Connecticut Noxious Weeds
• Delaware Invasive Species Council
• Delaware Invasive Species Council Invasive Species List
• Florida Invasive Plant Council - Plant List - Category I
• Florida Noxious Weeds
• Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council - Category 1
• Hoffman, R. & K. Kearns, Eds. 1997. Wisconsin manual of control recommendations for ecologically invasive plants. Wisconsin Dept. Natural Resources, Bureau of Endangered Resources. Madison, Wisconsin. 102pp.
• Illinois Exotic Weed Act
• Indiana Invasive Species Council - Invasive Plant List
• Indiana Terrestrial Plant Rule
• Invasive Plant Species of West Virginia
• Invasive Species of Concern in Georgia
• Jil M. Swearingen, Survey of invasive plants occurring on National Park Service lands, 2000-2007
• John Randall, The Nature Conservancy, Survey of TNC Preserves, 1995.
• Kentucky Exotic Pest Plant Council - Severe Threat
• Maine Invasive Plants
• Maryland Cooperative Extension Service.  2003. Invasive Plant Control in Maryland. Home and Garden Information Center, Home and Garden Mimeo HG88. 4 pp.
• Maryland Department of Agriculture's Candidates for Listing of Invasive Plants
• Maryland Department of Natural Resources Policy: Restriction on Planting Exotic Invasive Plants
• Maryland Invasive Species Council - Invasive Species of Concern in Maryland
• Massachusetts Invasive Plants Advisory Group List
• Massachusetts Noxious Weeds
• Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List
• Minnesota Noxious Weeds
• Missouri SRISP Species List
• National Park Service, Mid-Atlantic Exotic Plant Management Team Invasive Plant List
• Native Plant Society of Oregon, 2008
• New Hampshire Invasive Species Committee. 2005. Guide to Invasive Upland Plant Species in New Hampshire. New Hampshire Department of Agriculture,  Markets and Food Plant Industry Division and New Hampshire Invasive Species Committee.
• New Hampshire Prohibited Invasive Species
• New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team 2017 Invasive Species List
• New York Regulated and Prohibited Invasive Species - Prohibited
• Non-Native Invasive Plants of Arlington County, Virginia
• Non-Native Invasive Plants of the City of Alexandria, Virginia
• Nonnative Invasive Species in Southern Forest and Grassland Ecosystems
• Ohio Invasive Species Council
• Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Invasive Plants
• Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas
• Reichard, Sarah. 1994.  Assessing the potential of invasiveness in woody plants introduced in North America. University of Washington Ph.D. dissertation.
• Rhode Island Natural History Survey
• South Carolina Exotic Pest Plant Council
• Tennessee Exotic Pest Plant Council
• Vermont Noxious Weeds
• Virginia Invasive Plant Species List
• WeedUS - Database of Plants Invading Natural Areas in the United States
• West Virginia Invasive Species Strategic Plan and Volunteer Guidelines 2014
• West Virginia Native Plant Society, Flora West Virginia Project, and West Virginia Curatorial Database System, September 3, 1999
• Wisconsin Noxious Weeds
• Wisconsin's Invasive species rule – NR 40

References