Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Morrow's honeysuckle

(Lonicera morrowii)

galery
en

Description

Lonicera morrowii, the Morrow's honeysuckle is a deciduous honeysuckle in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to Japan, Korea, and Northeast China. It is a shrub, reaching a height of 2-2.5 m, with oblong leaves 4–6 cm long. It leafs out quite early in the spring, and in North America is commonly the first deciduous shrub with foliage in March. The flowers are white to pale yellow, and the fruit is a dark red berry 7–8 mm diameter containing numerous seeds. The berries, while eaten frequently by birds, are considered poisonous to humans. It is colloquially called "bush honeysuckle" in the United States, and is considered an invasive species. Morrow's honeysuckle is confirmed as a highly invasive species over the northeastern third of the United States. Morrow's honeysuckle thrives at the edges of forests, roads, or other natural or man-made barriers, but is not limited to them, and is found in both mature and disturbed forests. In some areas, Morrow's honeysuckle is the dominant plant species, especially in areas of disturbed ecological succession. It is suspected that Lonicera morrowii is allelopathic, and may capitalize on disturbed ecological succession by establishing itself and then preventing the growth of plants underneath it. With a sufficiently established thicket of honeysuckle, even other shade-tolerant, invasive species, such as fortune's spindle have difficulty growing underneath it, whether due to its suspected allelopathic activity or through soil depletion.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Dipsacales
Family:Caprifoliaceae
Genus:Lonicera
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