Category: Caprifoliaceae

  • Tartarian Honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica)

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    A noxious weed in many places, but rather uncommon here so far, especially compared to the ubiquitous Morrow’s Honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowi). The pink flowers of this species are distinctive, although it may also produce white flowers, in which case it may be much harder to tell from Morrow’s. This bush was growing just above the lake in Schenley Park, where it was blooming in early May.

    Gray describes the genus and the species which he places in the section Xylosteon:

    LONICERA L. HONEYSUCKLE. Calyx-teeth very short. Corolla tubular or funnel-form, often gibbous at the base, irregularly or almost regularly б-lobed. Berry several-seeded. — Erect or climbing shrubs. Leaves entire. Flowers often showy and fragrant. (Named in honor of Adam Lonitzer, latinized Lonicerus, a German herbalist of the 16th century.) A large boreal genus most abundant in Asia and long popular in cultivation.

    XYLÓSTEON [Tourn.] Pers. Leaves all distinct; peduncles axillary, single, 2-flowered at the summit; the two berries sometimes united into one; calyx-teeth not persistent.

    Upright bushy shrubs.

    Bracts (2 or sometimes 4) at the base of the ovaries small, lance-oblong to linear.

    Corolla-lobes subequal.

    Peduncles long and slender (1.4-3 cm. in length).

    L. tatarica L. (TARTARIAN H.) Smooth shrub, 1.6-3 m. high ; leaves thin, glabrous, entire, cordate-oval, on short petioles ; corolla showy, white or rose-colored; the lobes subequal, widely spreading, nearly as long as the tube; berries united at the base, red or orange. — Escaped from cultivation and estab lished on rocky shores and sheltered banks, Me. to Ont., N. J., and Ky. May, June. (Introd. from Asia.)

  • Highbush Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum)

    Not really a cranberry, but it has berries that can be a good substitute for cranberries. The leaves are much like the leaves of Red Maple (Acer rubrum), and the flowers come in dense cymes. Most of the flowers are tiny, but the outer flowers in each cyme, which are sterile, are immensely overgrown, making the whole cyme much more showy and a much more attractive target for pollinators. This bush was growing at the edge of the woods in Harmarville, where it was blooming in late May.

    This species is often considered as variety americanum of the Eurasian species V. opulus, and so Gray classifies it:

    VIBÚRNUM [Tourn.] L. ARROW-WOOD, LAURESTINUS. Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla spreading, deeply 5-lobed. Stamens 5. Stigmas 1-3. Fruit a 1-celled 1-seeded drupe, with soft pulp and a thin-crustaceous (flattened or tumid) stone. —Shrubs, with simple leaves, and white (rarely pink) flowers in flat compound cymes. Petioles sometimes bearing little appendages which are evidently stipules. Leaf-buds naked, or with a pair of scales. (The classical Latin name, of unknown meaning.)

    § 2. ÓPULUS [T onrn.] DC. Winter-buds scaly; leaves palmately veined and lobed; drupe bright red, acid, globose; stone very flat, orbicular, not sulcate.

    V. Ópulus L., var. americànum (Mill.) Ait. (CRANBERRY-TREE, HIGH-BUSH CRANBERRY, PIMBINA.) Nearly smooth, upright, 1-4 m. high; leaves 3-5-ribbed, strongly 3-lobed, broadly wedge-shaped or truncate at base, the spreading lobes pointed, mostly toothed on the sides, entire in the sinuses; petioles bearing 2 glands at the apex; cyme broad, the marginal flowers neutral, with greatly enlarged flat corollas; stamens elongate. (V. americanum Mill.) — In woods and along streams, Nfd. and e. Que. to B. C, s. to N. J., Pa., Mich., Wisc., and n. e. Ia. June, July. (E. Asia.) — The acid fruit of this and the next is a substitute for cranberries. The well-known Snow-ball Tree, or Guelder Rose, is a cultivated state of the typical Old World form, with the whole cyme turned into showy sterile flowers.

  • Southern Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum)

    One of several Viburnum species found in our area; this one is not recorded in the literature as occurring in Allegheny County, though it is known to occur in neighboring Butler County. (Shafer’s Preliminary List of the Vascular Flora of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, lists it as a possible resident, on the grounds that it occurs in neighboring areas.) Nevertheless, these bushes seem to be Viburnum dentatum, and they did grow in Allegheny County, near the edge of the woods on the grounds of Harmarville Rehabilitation Hospital. (We’d be delighted to be corrected in this identification if it’s wrong.) The one above was blooming in early June; the one below in late May. The similar Viburnum recognitum, which may also grow in our area, is sometimes classified as a variety of Viburnum dentatum.

    Gray describes the genus and the species, which he places in the Euviburnum or Viburnum-proper section of the genus:

    VIBÚRNUM [Tourn.] L. ARROW-WOOD, LAURESTINUS. Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla spreading, deeply 5-lobed. Stamens 5. Stigmas 1-3. Fruit a 1-celled 1-seeded drupe, with soft pulp and a thin-crustaceous (flattened or tumid) stone. —Shrubs, with simple leaves, and white (rarely pink) flowers in flat compound cymes. Petioles sometimes bearing little appendages which are evidently stipules. Leaf-buds naked, or with a pair of scales. (The classical Latin name, of unknown meaning.)

    § 3. EUVIBÚRNUM Koehne (restricted). Winter-buds scaly; leaves pinnately veined (except in V. acerifolium), the veins straightish and terminating in coarse teeth; cymes never radiant, peduncled; drupes blue to black; stone usually grooved.

    Leaves cordate or subcordate at base, coarsely toothed, prominently pinnate-veined.

    Stone very deeply sulcate ventrally; leaves rather slender-petioled.

    V. dentàtum L. (ARROW-WOOD.) Smooth, 1-4.5 m. high, with ash-colored bark; leaves broadly ovate, glabrous, or with hairy tufts in the axils beneath, very numerously sharp-toothed and strongly veined, 5-8 cm. long; fruit globose-ovoid, 6 mm. long; cross-section of stone between kidney- and horseshoe-shaped. — Wet places, N. B. to n. Ga., w. to w. N. Y. and s. Ont. June, July.

  • Morrow’s Honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowi)

    A tall bush (six feet or more) with flowers very much like those on Japanese Honeysuckle, both white and buff on the same bush. (Like Japanese Honeysuckle, it came from Japan.) It grows at the edge of the woods, and is particularly fond of roadsides. This bush grew at the wooded edge of a yard in Mount Lebanon, where it was blooming in early May.

    Gray describes the genus and the species:

    LONICERA L. HONEYSUCKLE

    Calyx-teeth very short. Corolla tubular or funnel-form, often gibbous at the base, irregularly or almost regularly 5-lobed. Berry several-seeded. Erect or climbing shrubs. Leaves entire. Flowers often showy and fragrant. (Named in honor of Adam Lonitzer, latinized Lonicerus, a German herbalist of the 16th century.) A large boreal genus most abundant in Asia and long popular in cultivation.

    L. morrowi Gray. Shrub, 1.5-2 m. high, soft-downy; branches spreading; leaves oblong, rounded or subcordate at base, dark green and somewhat rugose above, much paler and grayish-tomentose beneath, obtuse or barely acutish; calyx-teeth hirsute or ciliate; corolla-lobes subequal, nearly as long as the tube, widely spreading, white or cream-colored ; berries bright red. Frequently cultivated, and now locally established in e. Mass. (Introd. from Japan.)

  • Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)

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    Originally a cultivated Asian import, but now as much a part of the American landscape as the dandelion, this weedy vine covers hillsides and infiltrates hedges throughout the city. It is remarkable for bearing two different colors of flower on the same stem. Children know that a drop of pure, sweet nectar may be carefully extracted from the base of the flower.

    From Gray’s Manual: L. JAPONICA Thunb. (JAPANESE H.) Pubescent; leaves ovate or oblong, thickish, entire, short-petioled; peduncles rather short; bracts leaf-like, conspicuous; corolla white, pink, or yellow, the slender pubescent tube 2.5 cm. long; berries black. Escaped from cultivation and established in woods and thickets, Ct. to Fla. May-July. (Introd. from Asia.)

    This was from the 1908 edition. The 1889 edition does not include Lonicera japonica, suggesting that it was not yet a common escape.

    Although Gray says it blooms May through July, Japanese Honeysuckle will bloom sporadically throughout the year, and in Pittsburgh has a strong second season in the fall. This vine was blooming in a hedge in Beechview in early October.