LONICERA ETRUSCA

Family:- CAPRIFOLIACEAE/Sect. CAPRIFOLIUM

Common Names:- Etruscan honeysuckle

Synonyms:- Caprifolium dimorphum, Caprifolium etruscum, Lonicera

celtiberica.

Meaning:- Lonicera (L) For Adam Lonitzer (1528-86) German physician and

botanist.

Etrusca (L) From Tuscany, the area of the Etruscans.

General description:- Climbing, deciduous sometimes more, or scrambling over

the ground.

Stems:-

a) up to 5m.

b) twining.

Leaves:-

a) 3-8 x 1·5-5 cm.

b) opposite, simple.

c) broadly elliptical or obovate, obtuse or subacute at apex.

d) covered with a waxy bloom (glaucous) or whitish-green and usually minutely

covered with soft hairs (puberulent) beneath.

e) upper pair united at the base (connate), the next stalkless (sessile) or short-

stalked (petiolate).

Flower:-

a) from 35-45 mm long.

b) bilaterally symmetrical.

c) joined together by 6-20 in stalked terminal clusters.

d) yellow to whitish with purple marks, very fragrant.

1) Corolla:

a) 2 liped, upper, narrow tubed, lengthened at the base, without hairs.

b) upper lip with 4 lobes.

2) Calyx:

a) very short.

b) teeth a little acute in their upper part.

Fruit:-

1) Berries:

a) 8-10 mm.

b) red when ripe.

key features:-

1) At least the first pair of leaves below the inflorescence connate.

2) Flower-heads pedunculate.

Habitat:- Open shrubby vegetaion, scrub, open woodland, hedgerows, banks and

roadside thickets. 0-900(-1600),

Distribution:- Widespread and common throughout the Mediterranean region and

Anatolia. Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Apr-July.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton