Lonicera japonica
Japanese honeysuckle ( Lonicera japonica)
The Japanese honeysuckle ( Lonicera japonica ) is a twining or low -lying shrub with highly fragrant, 3 to 5 cm large flowers from the family of Honeysuckle ( Caprifoliaceae ). The natural range is in Japan, Korea, and in the east of China, the species has been naturalized in Europe, Africa, Australia and America. It is often used because of the decorative and highly scented blossoms as an ornamental plant.
Description
The Japanese honeysuckle is an evergreen or evergreen, twining, or low -lying shrub with hollow branches. The shoots are densely hairy yellow-brown and partly glandular. The leaves have a 3-8 mm long, densely yellow-brown hairy stalk. The leaf blade is simple, ovate, oblong or lanceolate, 3-8 cm long and 1.5 to 4 inches wide, with a sharp or pointed tip, rounded or more or less heart-shaped base and bewimpertem, sometimes wavy leaf margin. The upper leaf surface is hairy along veins, the lower surface sparsely hairy to densely.
The highly fragrant flowers grow in axillary pairs on a 2 to 40 millimeters long stems that are shorter at the branch tips. The bracts are ovate to elliptic and 1 to 3 inches long. The bracts are about 1 mm long, hairy and have a ciliated, rounded or truncated tip. The calyx lobes are triangular, about 1 millimeter long, pointed and densely hairy on the underside and along the leaf margin. The corolla is two-lipped, white and later yellow or purple outside and white inside, about 3 to 5 inches long, hairy with intervening long glandular hairs. The corolla tube is 1.5 to 3 inches long and not curved at the base. The upper lip is lobed irregularly four times, the lobes are 2-8 mm long, the lower lip is bent back. The stamens are bald and about the same length or longer than the corolla. The ovary is about 2 millimeters long and bare. The style is bare and extends to the edge of the crown or beyond. As fruits shiny, round, 6 to 7 millimeters by measuring berries are formed, which become black during fruit ripening. The seeds are brown, ovoid, or elliptical and about 3 millimeters long. The Japanese honeysuckle flowers from April to June and the fruits ripen from October to November.
The chromosome number is 2n = 18
Dissemination
The natural range is located in the temperate zone of Asia in Japan in the south of the islands of Hokkaido, on Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku, on the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan and in the East of China in the provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhejiang. In many areas the species was naturalized as in several parts of Europe, the Azores and Madeira, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Hawaii and South America. The Japanese honeysuckle grows in thickets and open woods, on hillsides and along roads, in China at altitudes of 800 to 1500 meters. It is found on acidic to alkaline, rich, sandy- loamy to loamy, fertile soil in light to partial shade. The species is moderately frost hardy.
System
The Japanese honeysuckle ( Lonicera japonica ) is a species of the genus honeysuckle ( Lonicera ) in the family of Honeysuckle ( Caprifoliaceae ). There, the genus of the subfamily Capri Folio ideae is assigned. The species was described in 1784 by Carl Peter Thunberg of the first time scientifically. The genus name Lonicera is reminiscent of the German mathematician, physician and botanist Adam Lonitzer (Latin Lonicerus ). The specific epithet japonica refers to the area of distribution in Japan.
There are two varieties:
- Lonicera japonica var chinensis ( Watson) Baker with purple outside and white inside the corolla. The distribution area is located in Anhui province and possibly also in Guizhou and Zhejiang. The taxon was described in 1825 by William Watson as an intrinsically kind Lonicera chinensis, and assigned by John Gilbert Baker in 1871 as a variety of the species Lonicera japonica.
- Lonicera japonica var japonica with white and yellow later - white corolla.
Use
Different varieties of Japanese honeysuckle are often used because of the decorative and highly scented flowers as ornamental plants, including:
- ' Aureoreticulata ' with highly branched, bushy, sometimes 2 to 4 feet tall in stature. The leaves have a striking light or lemon yellow veining. The flowers are few and white.
- ' Dart's Acumen ' with a strong, rapidly covering the bottom growth. The leaves are elliptical, the white flowers and slightly crowded red and yellow when fading. In Central Europe the variety of blooms June to September.
- ' Halliana ' strong, 4 to 5 feet tall in stature. The leaves are dark green, the flowers numerous, white and pale yellow when fading.