Lonicera nitida
Common name:
Box Honeysuckle
Pronunciation:
lon-ISS-er-a ni-TI-da
Family:
Caprifoliaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Broadleaf evergreen shrub, 4-5 ft (1.2-1.5 m) high, dense. Leaves opposite, simple, ovate to roundish, 6-16 mm long, entire, rounded at base, glossy (nitida: glossy) dark green, 1 mm petiole. Flowers creamy white, 6 mm long, in pairs. Fruit bluish-purple, 6 mm diam., translucent, late summer.
- Sun to light shade. Takes salt spray. Often hedged. Readily root from cuttings.
- Hardy to USDA Zone (6) 7 Native to China
-
Several cultivars, which differ in plant grown habit, leaf color and leaf size, including:
- ‘Baggesen's Gold’ - new leaves golden
- ‘Elegant’, (‘Elegans’) - grows to 1 m, branches loose, somewhat horizontal, spreading, leaves small, about 15 mm.
- 'Lemon Beauty' - variegated, small leaves with cream-yellow margins, light green in the shade
- ‘Red Tips’ - burgundy new growth.
- ‘Silver Beauty’ - silver leaf margins
- Lonicera: after Adam Lonitzer (1528-86), German naturalist and herbalist.
- Oregon State Univ. campus: east of Community Hall, formerly Benton Hall