Morrow's honeysuckle (Invasive Plants of Maryland)

Morrow's honeysuckle

Lonicera morrowii

Summary ¹⁰

Lonicera morrowii, the Morrow's honeysuckle, is a deciduous honeysuckle in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to Japan, Korea, and Northeast China. It is a shrub, reaching a height of 2-2.5 m, with oblong leaves 4–6 cm long. It leafs out quite early in the spring, and in North America is commonly the first deciduous shrub with foliage in March. The flowers are white to pale yellow, and the fruit is a dark red berry 7–8 mm diameter containing numerous...

Description and biology ¹¹

Plant: multi-stemmed, upright, deciduous shrub that grows to 7 ft. tall; pith of mature stems is hollow and white or tan in contrast to solid white pith of native shrub honeysuckle species.
Leaves: opposite, 1-2 in. long, elliptic to oblong, on short stalks, sparsely hairy above, permanently hairy underneath.
Flowers, fruits and seeds: flowers are paired, borne from leaf axils, white, tubular (lower half) with 5 separate (unfused) petal lobes, spring (late April-early May); fruits paired, red to orange, many-seeded berries mature in July and persist through the winter.
Spreads: by seed which is spread by birds that consume the fruits and defecate the seeds in new locations; vegetative sprouting aids in local spread.
Look-alikes: native bush honeysuckles (Diervilla sp.), hairy honeysuckle (L. hirsuta), swamp fly-honeysuckle (L. oblongifolia) and water-berry (L. villosa).

Conservation status ¹²

More info for the term: natural

Winter honeysuckle, Amur honeysuckle, Morrow's honeysuckle, Tatarian honeysuckle, and Bell's honeysuckle are ranked as severe threats by the Tennessee Exotic Pest Plant Council [156], and Amur honeysuckle, Morrow's honeysuckle, and Tatarian honeysuckle are ranked as severe threats by the Kentucky Exotic Pest Plant Council [85]. Morrow's honeysuckle is ranked highly invasive, Amur honeysuckle and Tatarian honeysuckle moderately invasive, and winter honeysuckle and Bell's honeysuckle occasionally invasive by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation [182].

U.S. Forest Service Region 8 (Southern Region) lists winter honeysuckle, Amur honeysuckle, Morrow's honeysuckle, and Tatarian honeysuckle as category 1 weeds (exotic plant species that are known to be invasive and persistent throughout all or most of their range within the Southern Region and that can spread into and persist in native plant communities and displace native plant species and therefore pose a demonstrable threat to the integrity of the natural plant communities in the Region). The introduction of category 1 species is prohibited on National Forest System Lands [171].

Morrow's honeysuckle, Tatarian honeysuckle, and Bell's honeysuckle are "high-priority" nonnative invasive plants of the Ottawa National Forest (MI) [170].

Ecological threat in the united states ¹³

Exotic bush honeysuckles can rapidly invade and overtake a site, forming a dense shrub layer that crowds and shades out native plant species. They alter habitats by decreasing light availability, by depleting soil moisture and nutrients, and possibly by releasing toxic chemicals that prevent other plant species from growing in the vicinity. Exotic bush honeysuckles may compete with native bush honeysuckles for pollinators, resulting in reduced seed set for native species. In addition, the fruits of exotic bush honeysuckles, while abundant and rich in carbohydrates, do not offer migrating birds the high-fat, nutrient-rich food sources needed for long flights, that are supplied by native plant species.

Sources and Credits

(c) Carolannie--temporarily AWOL, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/88913562@N00/3556516419
(c) Sara Rall, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Sara Rall
(c) Tyler Christensen, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Tyler Christensen
(c) runcator, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by runcator
(c) Erika Mitchell, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Erika Mitchell
(c) Christopher Tracey, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), uploaded by Christopher Tracey
(c) Jason Newton, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Jason Newton
(c) chillbobagginz, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) cheyennelconway, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Adapted by Kate Wagner from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonicera_morrowii
(c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/22733906
Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/24637051
(c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/22948680

More Info

iNat Map

Flower color	white

‹ › ×