Morrow's honeysuckle

Dense, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub that is 6-12' tall. Young stems are slightly hairy and light brown while older branches may have shaggy, peeling bark and are often hollow between the nodes.

Other names for this plant include:

• Common names: Asian fly honeysuckle, bush honeysuckle
• Scientific names: Lonicera insularis

Classification in Wisconsin: Restricted

Ecological Threat

• Invade various habitats, including forest edges, open woods, roadsides, pastures and old fields.
• They alter habitats by decreasing light availability, depleting soil moisture and nutrients and possibly releasing allelopathic chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants.
• Eurasian bush honeysuckles have been widely planted as ornamentals and for wildlife habitats. Commercial propagation continues with many cultivars available from nurseries.
• Hybridizes with L. tatarica to create L. x bella which is also invasive.

Identification

Leaves: Opposite, oval or oblong with short, pointed tips. Leaves are hairless on the top but slightly hairy on the underside and more gray-green in color. Leaf apexes are blunt with angled corners. Leaves come on 1 to 2 weeks earlier in spring and stay on later in fall than the leaves of native trees and shrubs.

Flowers: Fragrant, tubular and arranged in pairs at leaf axils. White to cream and turning yellow with age. Sepals and corolla are fuzzy. Bloom mid-to-late spring.

Fruits & seeds: Red berries in pairs at leaf axils containing many sources. Birds readily disperse them.

Roots: Fibrous and shallow.

Similar species: Native Lonicera shrubs have shorter, sparser growth forms and solid white pith in stems. Native Diervilla species have yellow flowers that turn red with age and fruits that are elongated capsules and grow in dry or rocky sites. Native species develop leaves 1-2 weeks later, drop them earlier in the fall and often have solid stems. L. tatarica, L. x bella and L. maackii are invasive bush honeysuckles. They are all very similar except for slight differences in flower color and leaf downiness.

Control

Mechanical: Small to medium-sized plants can be dug or pulled by hand or leverage tool. Prescribed burns in spring kill seedlings and top kills older plants.

Chemical: Cut-stump treatment with glyphosate or basal bark around each plant stems with triclopyr ester. Treat foliage with glyphosate in early spring before leaf out of native species.

For more information on control techniques, visit the Bush honeysuckles factsheet [exit DNR] by the University of Wisconsin-Extension.

Resources

Sources for content:

• Czarapata, Elizabeth; Invasive Plants of the Upper Midwest: an illustrated guide to their identification and control. The University of Wisconsin Press. 2005. Pg. 32-35
• Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health: Invasive.org. Morrow's honeysuckle [exit DNR].
• Invasive Plant Atlas of New England. Morrow's honeysuckle [exit DNR] (Lonicera morrowii).

Links for more information:

• Wisconsin State Herbarium [exit DNR]
• USDA PLANTS Profile [exit DNR]