HONE YS UCKLE 7 7 



With clasping tendrils it invests the branch, 

 Else unadorned, with many a gay festoon 

 And fragrant chaplet ; recompensing well 

 The strength it borrows with the grace it lends. 



The reference to the clasping tendrils is a poet's 

 licence, or possibly a poet's ignorance, the honeysuckle 

 not possessing them. The stems reach a length or height 

 sometimes of some twenty feet. They twine very freely 

 and have great constricting power. One may often come 

 across stems of hazel and other wood in the hedgerow 

 or coppice cut almost in half by them.' The stems of 

 the honeysuckle twine from right to left, as do those of 

 the hop, bryony, and some other plants, while others, 

 again, as the dodder or the convolvulus, always twist 

 in the reverse direction to this around whatever support 

 they may attach themselves to. 



The leaves are in pairs, and stalkless. They are ovate 

 in form, having their upper surfaces smooth, while the 

 lower faces are often a little downy or hairy. The blossoms 

 are tubular in form, very fragrant, of a creamy yellow 

 or white, and with roseate streaks. They are grouped 

 together in terminal heads, and will be found from June 

 to September. The honey they so freely contain is in 

 great request, some insects being able to reach it from 

 the upper part of the expanded flower, while others, 

 unable to do this, pierce the flower at its base and so 

 arrive at the prize. The fruit is a scarlet berry. These 

 berries are grouped some five or six together, and vary 

 considerably in size. They may be described as globose, 



' It grouth in woods and hedges and upon shrubbes and bushes, 

 oftentimes winding it selfe so straight and hard about that it leaveth his 

 print upon these things so wrapped. — Gerard. 



