Honeysuckle

Where it grows

European common honeysuckle, or woodbine, scrambles through hedgerows and wood margins across the western half of Europe. Different Lonicera species occupy similar niches across Asia and North America; some, like Japanese honeysuckle (L. japonica), have become serious invasives in the United States after escaping cultivation.

How to recognise it

A twining climber up to seven metres, with paired oval leaves and terminal clusters of long tubular two-lipped flowers about five centimetres long. Each bloom opens cream, ages to gold or orange, and is heavily scented at night to attract hawk moths, which alone have tongues long enough to reach the nectar. Bright red berries follow.

Garden & cultural uses

Honeysuckle is the archetype of the English cottage-garden climber, paired with rambling roses around doorways. The flowers are mildly fragrant by day and powerfully so at night. Children traditionally sucked the drop of nectar from the base of each flower, the practice that gave the plant its common name.

In symbolism

In medieval European symbolism honeysuckle stood for fidelity and the bonds of love, its twining habit refusing to let go of its support.