Wilson's Honeysuckle - Lonicera nitida

Description

Lonicera nitida is a dense, evergreen shrub, growing to 3.5m tall and 3m wide, with small, ovate, glossy dark-green leaves on arching branches. The leaves are borne at right angles to the stem. The stem has both long and short hairs. It has tiny cream tubular flowers, followed by sparse, glossy, blue-purple berries in autumn.

Similar Species

Superficially similar to Box (Buxus sempervirens) but they are completely different in flower and fruit. Also similar to Box-leaved Honeysuckle (Lonicera pileata) but that species has longer, pointed, more forward-directed leaves and only short stem hairs.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Used for garden hedges and often found as a naturalised escape from cultivation, establishing from clippings in disturbed ground or on railway verges.

When to see it

Flowers in spring are followed, in autumn, by blue-purple berries in autumn.

Life History

Evergreen shrub.

UK Status

Fairly widespread in Britain.

VC55 Status

Rare or rarely recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Wilson's Honeysuckle
Species group:
Trees, Shrubs & Climbers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Dipsacales
Family:
Caprifoliaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
8
First record:
29/01/2015 (Helen Ikin;Steve Woodward)
Last record:
12/06/2024 (Higgott, Mike)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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