THE WOODBINE. 



273 



June ; its flowers, copiously stored with honey, 

 are then rifled by such insects as are furnished 

 with a long proboscis ; while others which cannot 

 reach to the bottom of its curved tubes, obtain 

 their booty by piercing the base, a method which 

 is successfully pursued with other tubular flowers, 

 such as the Jasmine. To the flowers succeed 

 bunches of scarlet berries, which are clammy 

 to the touch, glutinous, and sweet to the taste, 

 but mawkish. In October the Woodbine, with 

 praiseworthy perseverance, endeavours to impart a 

 grace to the fading year by producing a new crop of 

 flowers, which, though not so luxuriant nor so 

 numerous as the first, are quite as fragrant. 

 Clusters of flowers and of ripe berries may 

 then be found on the same twig, uniting autumn 

 with summer as the early foliage united winter 

 with spring. 



The name Lonicera was given to it in honour 

 of Lonicer, a German : Periclymenum is a Greek 

 compound, and signifies winding about : Wood- 

 bine is evidently a corruption of Woodbind, 

 and Honeysuckle has reference to the custom 

 among children of sucking honey out of the 

 flowers. 



The Honeysuckle is propagated either by cut- 

 tings or layers ; but a yet readier way to secure 

 a stock of the common variety is to collect young 

 rooted plants in the woods and hedges, taking care 

 to select the month of October or November for 

 the operation ; for, if transplanted at this season, 

 they rarely fail to grow. 



Many foreign species of Honeysuckle are cul- 

 tivated, but these belong to the garden, rather 

 than to the woodland. One species, Lonicera 



II. T 



