CAPRIFOLIACEAE 269 



the most part of the north temperate zone but a few tropical. 

 About 25 are native in North America, and the following occur 

 as woody forms in Illinois. 



Key to the Honeysuckle Species 



Upper leaves on flowering branches connate; vines. 



Leaves glabrous on both sides L. dioica, p. 269 



Leaves pubescent beneath L. prolifera, p. 269 



Leaves all with petioles; shrubs L. canadensis, p. 271 



LONICERA DIOICA Linnaeus 

 Limber Honeysuckle 



The Limber Honeysuckle, fig. 72, is a climbing or sometimes 

 somewhat shrublike vine with stems 3 to 10 feet long, hollow 

 branches, and glabrous branchlets. The opposite leaves are for 

 the most part oblong and 2 to 4 inches long by as much as 2 

 inches wide. They are either sessile or short petioled, and a 

 few upper pairs are united around the stem at the base so that 

 at least the uppermost pair forms a disk, which is usually some- 

 what tapered at each end and more or less constricted at the 

 middle of each side. The blades of other leaves are obtuse at 

 the apex, variously narrowed to the base, glabrous both above 

 and beneath, glaucous beneath, and entire margined. 



The flowers, which are in bloom during the last part of May, 

 stand on very short peduncles and are arranged in whorls, of 

 which there may be 1 to 3, each containing about 6 flowers, at 

 the end of branchlets. The flower is light to dark purple, or 

 greenish yellow tinted with purple, and Yz to y^, inch long. Fruit 

 matures in July and August as salmon-colored berries, each on 

 an elongated pedicel and each containing usually 3 seeds. 



Distribution. — The Limber Honeysuckle grows in moist soil 

 along the banks of streams, in woods and in bogs from Maine 

 to Manitoba and south to North Carolina and ^Missouri. In 

 Illinois, it occurs only in relatively sandy woods and on ravine 

 slopes in Cook and Lake counties near Lake Michigan. 



LONICERA PROLIFERA (Kirchner) Rehder 

 Grape Honeysuckle 



The Grape Honeysuckle, fig. 72, is a climbing vine with stems 

 6 to 12 feet long bearing hollow branches and glabrous branch- 



