Yellow Honeysuckle

Kendall County (IL) Forest Preserve District

Yellow Honeysuckle
Lonicera prolifera [C-value 7]
Honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae)
Blooms May - June

The native Yellow Honeysuckle is uncommon in our area. It prefers full or partial sun and slightly moist soil containing loam, sand, or rocky material. Habitats include upland woodlands, thinly woody bluffs, woodland borders and savannas. This woody vine is up to 15' long with stems that twine about adjacent vegetation or objects for support. Along the stems are pairs of opposite leaves, each up to 4" long and 3" across, oval-shaped and untoothed. The terminal pair of opposite leaves have joined leaf blades and appear to be single round cup-shaped leaf. 2-5 whorls of flowers develop along a short flowering stalk from that uppermost pair of joined leaves. Individual flowers are about 1" long, consisting of a 2-lipped corolla that is pale yellow to orange-yellow and a short tubular calyx.

Yellow Honeysuckle at Lyon Forest Preserve June 7, 2015

Yellow Honeysuckle foliage at Lyon Forest Preserve May 9, 2015

Yellow Honeysuckle early flower buds at Lyon Forest Preserve May 25, 2017

Yellow Honeysuckle at Lyon Forest Preserve May 25, 2017

Yellow Honeysuckle near Pickerill/Pigott Forest Preserve September 1, 2013

Click here for more information. This link is for the description of Grape Honeysuckle (Lonicera reticulata).which is nearly identical to Yellow Honeysuckle except the flowers of Yellow Honeysuckle differ from those of Grape Honeysuckle by lacking one-sided swellings at the bases of their corollas.

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