Trumpet-shaped cream flowers, turning yellow, release their strongest scent at night, drawing in hawk-moths
Honeysuckle (Woodland Trust: elephant hawk-moth).
Nature · Shrubs
Honeysuckle
Native · flowers Jun–Sep · woods and hedgerows
Lonicera periclymenum — Caprifoliaceae
The native twining woody climber, or woodbine, of woods and hedgerows, with clusters of cream-and-yellow trumpet flowers that pour out scent at night for hawk-moths, followed by red berries that are poisonous to us. It is the sole food plant of the white admiral butterfly's caterpillar, and dormice use its bark for nests.
How to spot them
- ▸Twining stems that spiral round shrubs and trees, sometimes distorting the branch
- ▸Whorls of long tubular cream flowers that age to yellow-orange, often flushed red or pink, very sweetly scented especially at night
- ▸Deep green, oval, opposite leaves with no or very short stalks
- ▸Clusters of red berries in autumn, poisonous to people
- ▸Look-alikes: many other honeysuckles are naturalised or garden escapes, some invasive (Woodland Trust); the native has opposite leaves with no or very short stalks
How to know it
The sole food plant of the caterpillar of the white admiral butterfly, usually in shady positions
Honeysuckle (Butterfly Conservation).
Dormice strip its bark to make summer nests and eat its nectar-rich flowers
Honeysuckle.
Its old English name, woodbine, was borrowed for a brand of cheap cigarettes
Honeysuckle — Wild Woodbine.
Twining round a young branch, it forces the wood into a spiral used for making walking sticks
Honeysuckle (Woodland Trust).
In Victorian times young girls were forbidden to bring it into the house because its scent was thought to prompt suggestive dreams
Honeysuckle.
A hedgerow climber whose clusters of red berries are poisonous although thrushes, warblers and bullfinches eat them
Honeysuckle.
Quick-fire facts
- •Lonicera periclymenum, family Caprifoliaceae; named for the German botanist Adam Lonitzer (Lonicerus); also called woodbine
- •Woodland Trust: flowers June to September; berries ripen in autumn and are poisonous
- •White admiral: the caterpillar's sole food plant is honeysuckle, usually in shady positions; the hibernaculum is built on the plant; the butterfly is Vulnerable on the GB Red List (Butterfly Conservation)
- •Pollinated at night by moths such as the elephant hawk-moth; dormice use the bark for nests and eat the flowers
- •Birds including thrushes, warblers and bullfinches eat the berries
- •TOXICITY: the berries are poisonous to humans (Woodland Trust)
- •Twisted walking sticks were made from branches that honeysuckle had entwined; once popular with Scottish music-hall performers
- •Folklore: growing round a doorway it was said to bring good luck and keep out evil spirits; a symbol of fidelity
- •Widespread and common throughout the British Isles
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum)
- Butterfly Conservation — White Admiral