Amur Honeysuckle seed lonicera maackii podocarpa
LATIN NAME: Lonicera maackii
COMMON NAME: Amur Honeysuckle, Maack’s Honeysuckle
The Amur honeysuckle is a vigorous and generous shrub of the eastern Asian woodlands, and its fragrant, white to yellow flowers and its brilliant red berries have made it a valued, though sometimes troublesome, plant of the garden and the landscape. It grows as a shrub of the honeysuckle family, reaching up to five metres, with a dense, upright, branching crown of oval, green leaves and, in the late spring and the early summer, the many small, tubular, two-lipped flowers, white at first and fading to yellow, borne in pairs in the leaf axils and sweetly fragrant, followed, in the autumn, by the small, glossy, dark-red berries, which feed the birds. It is a species of the honeysuckle family, native to the temperate eastern Asia, specifically in the northern and western China south to Yunnan, Mongolia, Primorsky Krai in the southeastern Siberia, Korea and, albeit rare there, central and northern Honshu in Japan, while it has been widely planted in some regions and has become naturalised, and it is best managed with a little care.
The Amur honeysuckle belongs to the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, and it is a species of the honeysuckle native to the temperate eastern Asia, specifically in the northern and western China south to Yunnan, Mongolia, Primorsky Krai in the southeastern Siberia, Korea and, albeit rare there, central and northern Honshu in Japan. It is known as the Amur honeysuckle or the Maack’s honeysuckle, and it is prized for its fragrant flowers and its red berries.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The Amur honeysuckle has a genuine and growing place in both ecological and horticultural research. It has been studied in ecology, since it has been widely planted in some regions and has become naturalised, and researchers have examined its growth, its spread and its impact on the woodland and the field communities, while the spread of the shrub in the regions where it has been introduced has been of continuing concern, and the management and the control of the Amur honeysuckle have been examined, while the dense, early-leafing growth of the shrub has been examined for its effect on the native plants. The shrub has also been studied in horticulture, since it is a vigorous and generous plant of the garden, prized for its fragrant flowers and its red berries, and researchers have examined its cultivation, its growth and its value in the landscape, while its fragrant, white to yellow flowers have drawn attention in the international gardening press as a generous shrub of the late spring. The species has also been studied in botany, since it is a member of the honeysuckle family, and its classification and its relationships have been examined. For a shrub of such vigour, the Amur honeysuckle has a rich and growing record of research.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
Ecologically, the Amur honeysuckle is a generous shrub of the late spring. Its fragrant flowers feed the bees and the insects, and its red berries feed the birds of the autumn, while it is a presence in the woodlands of eastern Asia, and its spread in the regions where it has been introduced is best managed with a little care.
Its economic value is real. It is a vigorous and valued shrub of the garden and the landscape, prized for its fragrant flowers and its red berries, and it has drawn attention in the international gardening press as a generous shrub of the late spring, while its berries also feed the garden birds. For a grower, the Amur honeysuckle is an easy and generous shrub, and for a gardener it brings fragrant flowers and a display of red berries. The seeds need a spell of cold — keep them in damp compost in the fridge for about three months, then sow them in a pot of moist, free-draining compost in a sunny or lightly shaded spot, and they’ll sprout steadily, growing on into a vigorous, fragrant-flowered shrub.
Native to Manchuria, Japan, Korea and China, Amur honeysuckle (sometimes commonly called bush honeysuckle) is a densely-branched, deciduous shrub that typically grows to 15' tall. It features tapered, ovate to lanceolate, medium to dark green leaves to 3" long with a shiny and glabrous upper surface. It is one of the earliest shrubs to leaf out in the spring, and one of the last to drop its foliage in the fall. Fall color is green to chartreuse, sometimes tinged with purple but ornamentally ineffective, persisting into November and slowly abscising. Flowers are very fragrant; 1 inch tubular two-lipped, white changing to cream then faded yellow. Flowers bloom in May-June with each flower effective for up to two weeks. Flowers are borne upright, with four per node on the second year wood. Flowers give way to small juicy, dark red berries in clusters which are inedible to humans but loved by birds that help spread the seed. Amur honeysuckle is most ornamentally effective in October and November when the numerous bright red berries contrast well against the persistent dark green glossy leaves
Genus: Lonicera
Species: maackii podocarpa
Common Name: Amur Honeysuckle
Pre-treatment: required
Zone Hardiness Cold: 2
Zone Hardiness warm: 8
Height / Spread: 4m/4m
Plant Type: Medium Shrub
Growth rate: fast
Vegetation type: deciduous
Flower color: white
DESCRIPTION:
Vigorous in growth and setting seed, Amur honeysuckle is a tough and cold hardy shrub with fragrant white-becoming-yellow blossoms followed by attractive red fruits. An upright but spreading to fountain-shaped deciduous shrub, it is native to China (Manchuria) to Korea and Japan. In fertile soils with good moisture this plant reliably becomes invasive, especially as hungry songbirds quickly eat and spread the seeds every year. Thus, Amur honeysuckle is regarded as invasive shrub for cold region landscapes.
Usually multi-trunked, this shrub attains a small tree-like shape with spreading and arching branches. Its bark is grayish tan and exfoliates. The dark green leaves are arranged in pairs on the stems and are oval to lance-like. In early summer, two-lipped tubular white flowers are borne on the stems, and age to yellow. They are fragrant and attract insects for their effective pollination. Afterwards scores of attractive small red to dark red berries lines the branches and are quickly eaten by birds.
Amur honeysuckle is adaptable to most soil types that have fertility and have good drainage. Vigorous and readily self-sowing, this shrub is not recommended for general landscape use as it frequently escapes cultivation. Favored uses may only be for hillside stabilization or difficult urban sites where most other greenery cannot flourish
