HONEYSUCKLE. 'J 



" Upon a bank, 

 With ivy canopied, and interwove 

 With flaunting honeysuckle." 



Milton, Comus, 1. 545. 



" Whether to wind 

 The woodbine round this arbour, or direct 

 The clasping ivy where to climb." 



Milton, Par. Lost, book ix. 1. 215. 



Shakspeare has been wrongly accused of making the Woodbine 

 and Honeysuckle distinct plants; his words are : — 



" So doth the woodbine, the sweet honeysuckle, 

 Gently entwist the maple." 



Milton certainly errs in calling it " twisted Eglantine/' which is 

 the name for Sweet-briar or Dog-rose. Shakspeare distinguishes 

 them : — 



" O'er-canopied with luscious woodbine, 

 With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine." 



The stems of Honeysuckle invariably twine in the same direc- 

 tion, viz., from right to left, or with the sun : this is also the 

 case with the hop, bryony, &c. ; while others, such as dodder, and 

 convolvulus, constantly take a different direction. 



There are two other British species, the Pale perfoliate Honey- 

 suckle (L. Caprifolium), occurring in woods and thickets though 

 rarely, characterized by its flowers in capitate whorls, and con- 

 nate-perfoliate leaves ; and the upright Fly Honeysuckle (L. Xylos- 

 teum), also rare; known by its two-flowered peduncles, small 

 yellowish flowers, and ovate, acuminate, downy leaves. A variety 

 of the common kind, named the Oak- leaved (quercifolium), is 

 found near Oxford, and in a wood near Kimberly, Norfolk ; it is 

 distinguished, as its name indicates, by its leaves, which are 

 sinuated like those of oak. 



There are several foreign species of Honeysuckle, more or less 

 noted for those qualities which render the common kind so much 

 esteemed. They are easily cultivated in common garden-soil, by 

 cuttings taken off in autumn, and planted in a sheltered situation. 

 In raising the Honeysuckle from seeds, they should be sown the 

 autumn after they are ripe, otherwise they will not come up the 



