Lonicera, the honeysuckles, is a genus of about 158–159 species of woody plants in the family Caprifoliaceae (order Dipsacales). Members are perennial shrubs or twining woody vines, with growth forms ranging from ascending and mounding shrubs to vigorous climbers that scramble through trees and over fences. The leaves are opposite, simple, and oval, typically 1–10 cm long; most species are deciduous, but several — including the widely cultivated L. nitida, L. pileata, and L. henryi — retain their foliage year-round.
Honeysuckle flowers are the genus's signature feature: tubular and strongly bilaterally symmetrical, often borne in pairs at leaf axils, and famously sweet-scented in many species. They secrete a generous, edible nectar that has given the group its common name and made the flowers a favorite of pollinators. Bumblebees, long-tongued moths, and butterflies visit the European and Asian species, while New World species such as L. sempervirens (trumpet honeysuckle) bear scentless, red-orange flowers adapted for hummingbird pollination. Larvae of numerous Lepidoptera, including several specialist clearwing and hawk moths, feed on the foliage.
The fruits are small, spherical or elongated berries — typically red, blue, or black — containing a few seeds. The berries of most species are mildly toxic to humans and should not be eaten, but a notable exception is L. caerulea, whose blue fruits are the basis of the commercial "honeyberry" or "haskap" crop. Birds and other wildlife eat the berries readily and disperse the seeds; this same trait is what drives the genus's most problematic species into invasive status.
The genus is distributed across the temperate and subtropical Northern Hemisphere, with a southern extension through southwestern China into Malesia. It is well represented in eastern Asia (the center of species diversity), western North America, and Europe, with a smaller presence in North Africa. Several Asian species — most notoriously L. japonica (Japanese honeysuckle) and L. maackii (Amur honeysuckle) — have escaped cultivation and become significant invasive weeds in North America, Europe, Australia, southern Africa, and South America, where they outcompete native understory vegetation. Despite this, the genus remains a cornerstone of ornamental horticulture, prized for fragrance, long bloom periods, and value to pollinators and birds in cottage, pollinator, and informal landscape plantings.
Etymology
The genus name Lonicera was bestowed by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in honor of Adam Lonicer (1528–1586), a German Renaissance physician, botanist, and author of an influential herbal. Linnaeus's choice followed his common practice of naming genera after earlier botanical authors; the Latinized form "Lonicera" is the noun form of Lonicer's surname.
Distribution
Lonicera is a Northern Hemisphere genus, native across temperate and subtropical regions of North America, Eurasia, and North Africa, with a southward extension into Malesia (the Philippines and Indonesia). Eastern Asia — particularly China — is the center of species richness. The genus is well represented in regional floras across its range: NCSU Extension reports it as native across North and Central America, North Africa, Europe, and Asia with about 159 species, and Info Flora Switzerland documents 13 species in the Swiss flora alone, including L. alpigena, L. caerulea, L. caprifolium, L. etrusca, L. henryi, L. japonica, L. nigra, L. nitida, L. periclymenum, L. pileata, L. tatarica, and L. xylosteum. Beyond the native range, honeysuckles have been introduced and become naturalized across the Southern Hemisphere — including Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, southern Africa, the Caribbean, and various Pacific islands.
Ecology
Honeysuckle flowers are an important nectar resource: they are bilaterally symmetrical, tubular, and produce abundant edible nectar, drawing bees, long-tongued moths, and butterflies in the Old World and hummingbirds in the New World — Lonicera sempervirens is particularly noted as a hummingbird-pollinated species. The berries are consumed by a wide range of birds and small mammals, which serve as the primary seed-dispersal agents and are the chief vector by which invasive Lonicera species expand into new habitat. Several Lepidoptera use the foliage as a larval host plant.
Cultivation
Most cultivated honeysuckles are hardy across USDA zones 4a through 9b. They are adaptable to full sun, partial shade, or dappled sunlight, and tolerate a wide range of soils — clay, loam, sand, and high-organic mixes — at pH from acidic to neutral. Plants prefer consistently moist soil but become reasonably drought-tolerant once established. In landscape design they are used to clothe pergolas, arbors, trellises, and fences; as informal hedging and foundation plantings; and as components of cottage, pollinator, shade, and winter gardens. Common cultivation problems are powdery mildew and leaf spots in hot, humid climates, and pest pressure from aphids, scale insects, thrips, beetles, and spring rose beetles. The Missouri Botanical Garden's plant finder catalogs roughly 39 Lonicera species and cultivars in cultivation, with the edible-fruited L. caerulea ("honeyberry") cultivars and shade-tolerant evergreen vines such as L. alseuosmoides among the more widely grown.
Conservation
Conservation concerns for Lonicera are weighted toward its invasive members rather than threatened ones. Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle) is recognized as a highly invasive species in North America, Europe, Australia, southern Africa, and South America; its U.S. spread began in 1806 and reached Canada by 2007. NCSU Extension identifies both L. japonica and L. maackii as invasive weeds in the United States. These species spread aggressively because birds readily consume and disperse their berries, and they can smother native understory vegetation and young trees in disturbed forest edges.
Cultural Uses
Lonicera has both medicinal and culinary cultural significance. Lonicera japonica is commercially cultivated in China as a traditional Chinese medicinal plant, where the dried flower buds (jin yin hua) have a long history of use. Separately, L. caerulea — the blue-fruited "honeyberry" or "haskap" — is grown commercially for its edible berries, with named cultivars such as 'Blue Moon' and 'Blue Velvet' featured in the Missouri Botanical Garden's plant finder.
Taxonomy Notes
Lonicera L. was formally established by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (1753), page 173, and is placed in the family Caprifoliaceae within the order Dipsacales. POWO (Kew) recognizes 159 accepted species and 14 generic synonyms, while Wikipedia cites roughly 158 — the two figures differ slightly depending on how recent splits and reinstatements are treated. GBIF anchors the genus under nubKey 2888645 and counts 465 descendant taxa once subspecies, varieties, and unresolved names are included. The genus has a fossil record extending from the Miocene to the present.
