LONICERA 43 



L. ETRUSCA, Saiiii. 



A very vigorous deciduous climber, young shoots (in the cultivated form) 

 reddish purple. Leaves oval or obovate, rounded at both ends or broadly 

 tapered at the base ; \\ to 3^ ins. long, I to 2 ins. wide ; glaucous and usually 

 somewhat downy beneath. The lower ones are shortly stalked ; approaching 

 the top they become stalkless ; whilst the uppermost pairs are united at the 

 base (connate). Flowers fragrant, at first yellowish, suffused with red, 

 becoming deeper yellow with age ; borne from July onwards in terminal 

 and axillary groups of three long-stalked heads. Corolla if ins. long, the tube 

 slender, sometimes smooth, sometimes glandular ; conspicuously two-lipped. 



Native of the Mediterranean region ; introduced probably two hundred years 

 ago, but not often seen. At its best, perhaps it is the most gorgeous of all 

 honeysuckles, but I have not seen it at its best out-of-doors, although no doubt 

 it may reach perfection in the south-western counties. Farther north it is 

 hardy, but not wholly satisfactory out-of-doors ; in an unheated greenhouse it 

 is wonderfully beautiful in late summer, the long shoots branching and forming 

 immense bouquets. The species varies very much in the amount of down on 

 the leaves, but the form now cultivated is downy on both sides of the leaf. 

 It is 



Var. PUBESCENS, Dippel (also known in gardens as gigantea, gigantea 

 superba, etc.). 



Var. VISCIDULA, Boissier. Leaves very glandular above, less so beneath ; 

 young shoots also glandular. Native of Asia Minor ; rather tender. 



L. FERDINANDI, Franchet. 



A very robust, deciduous shrub, of spreading, open habit, becoming in a few 

 years 8 or 9 ft. high and more in diameter ; buds awl-shaped, at first hairy ; 

 young shoots glandular when quite young. Leaves ovate, rounded or heart- 

 shaped at the base, slender-pointed, \\ to 4 ins. long, f to if ins. wide ; dull 

 green, hairy on both sides and on the margins. On the vigorous barren 

 shoots the leaf-stalks (each about \ in. long) are attached to a pair of stipules, 

 which are united and form a shield-like disk surrounding the stem at each 

 joint. These are not present on the flowering branches. Flowers yellow, 

 produced in pairs during early June from the apex of the shoot, and in the 

 upper leaf-axils. Corolla two-lipped, f in. across, with a bellied tube i in. long, 

 downy outside. Each pair of flowers is subtended by two leaflike bracts. 

 Fruit red. 



Native of Mongolia and China ; introduced in 1906. It is a remarkably 

 distinct species, and flowers freely. The shield-like stipules mentioned above 

 persist through the winter and become brown, stiff, and brittle the second year. 



L. FLAVA, Sims. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 1318.) 



The real L. flava is perhaps not now in cultivation, or, if it be, it is extremely 

 rare. It appears to be very local in its distribution, and was originally dis- 

 covered on the summit of Paris Mountain, in S. Carolina, by John Phraser ; 

 introduced early in the nineteenth century. The plants that go in cultivation 

 under the name are either L. Sullivantii or L. glaucescens, both of which are 

 inferior to it. It is about the most beautiful of American honeysuckles. The 

 bright orange-yellow flowers are about ij ins. long, the corolla-tube smooth 

 outside, slenderly tapered downwards, not bellied. The flowers are produced 

 in two or more whorls on a stalked, terminal inflorescence ; style smooth. 

 Leaves rather glaucous beneath, smooth, the uppermost one to three pairs 

 united into disks, not glaucous above as they are in L. Sullivantii. 



