Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 329 



CORAL OR TRUMPET HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera 



sempervlrens) is a very ornamental, climbing, woody 

 vine growing from 8 to 15 feet in length. It trails 

 over bushes or entwines its stems about the branches 

 of trees. It is more slender and graceful than the 

 Trumpet-creeper and, while its flowers are not as 

 large as the latter, they are brightly colored so that 

 the species is fully as often seen in cultivation as 

 the Trumpet-creeper. The lower leaves have short 

 stems, are rounded-oval in shape and opposite, as 

 are those of all the members of this family. The 

 leaves near the ends of the branches are united at 

 their bases, clasping the stems and forming cup-shap- 

 ed structures. The strikingly colored flowers grow 

 in whorls on spikes terminating the branches. The 

 tubular corollas are about two inches in length, bright 

 red on the outside and yellow within; the opening of 

 the corolla spreads but very little and is five-lobed. 

 As may be seen from the picture on the opposite 

 page, this honeysuckle flaunts the favorite colors of 

 the Ruby-throated Hummingbird and is consequently 

 visited very often by these birds. Its long slender 

 corolla is perfectly adapted to the long bill and 

 tongue of this smallest of our birds. In the South the 

 leaves of the Coral Honeysuckle are evergreen but 

 in the North they are deciduous. In the Fall where 

 each flower was located during the Summer we find 

 an orange-red berry. These are eaten by variou^ 

 migrating birds and in this manner the seeds con- 

 tained in the berries are scattered over a wide range 

 of territory. This is one of Nature's surest ways of 

 increasing the range of a species and adding to its 

 vitality by bringing it into contact with the same kind 

 of plants from widely separated localities. This 

 species is distributed from Conn, and Nebr. south- 

 wards. 



