180 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
seeds, carried by birds, or thrown out in some other manner. This species is easily distinguished from the 
common kind by its leaves, which appear as if entire, or rather, as if two grew together with the stem passing 
through them. 
2. —THE COMMON HONEYSUCKLE, or WOODBINE. (Caprifolium Periclymenum, Lindl .) 
Synonyme. —Lonicera Periclymenum, Lin. Specific Character. —Heads of flowers ovate, imbricated, terminal. 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 800 ; 2nd ed., t. 325; and our fig. 2, Leaves all separate, deciduous. Flowers ringent. (Smith.) 
in PI. 40. 
Description, &c. —The common Honeysuckle, or Woodbine, is one of the most beautiful and the most 
fragrant of the British plants. It is abundant in every part of England and Scotland ; but I think it grows with 
most luxuriance in the north; at least, the finest Woodbines I ever saw were some in the woods at Walton Hall, 
near Wakefield. The Woodbine always grows from the east to the west, and if disentangled from the shoot it 
is twined round it will not embrace another, but droops and dies. It has often been doubted whether the 
Woodbine injures the trees it twists itself round; but the fact was proved by a tree in our garden at Bayswater, 
which, having had Woodbine planted at its base while quite young, became twisted in a most singular manner, 
and looked, when the Honeysuckle was removed, like a gigantic cork-screw. Cowper, who may be pre-eminently 
styled the Poet of Nature, from the closeness of his observation of natural objects, alludes to this peculiarity in 
the following lines :— 
“ As woodbine weds the plant within her reach, 
Rough elm, or smootli-grain’d ash, or glossy beech, 
In spiral rings ascends the trunk, and lays 
Her golden tassels on the leafy sprays ; 
But does a mischief while she lends a grace, 
Straitening its growth by such a strict embrace.” 
In ordinary cases, however, the tree which serves as a support to the Honeysuckle is too old to be injured so 
deeply, and the mischief can only be done when the Honeysuckle, and the tree which serves as its support, are 
of nearly the same age and grow up together. Numerous other poets have alluded to the Honeysuckle, and 
among others may be mentioned the beautiful lines of Shakespeare :— 
“ So doth the woodbine, the sweet honeysuckle, 
Gently entwist the maple.” 
Sowerby supposes that the beautiful Oak-leaved Honeysuckle of the gardens is only a variety of the 
common Woodbine. 
GENUS II. 
THE UPRIGHT HONEYSUCKLE. (Lonicera, Lin.) 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —Calyx five-toothed, deciduous. Corolla 1 seeded. Berry two-celled, two-seeded. Upright deciduous shrubs, 
funnel-shaped, saccate at the base, with an erect two-lipped limb. with simple leaves, and twin inodorous flowers. ( Lindley .) 
Stamens five. Ovarium three-celled, with the cells equally many- I 
Description, &c.— The genus Caprifolium was combined by Linnaeus with Lonicera , but it has been 
separated by modern botanists ; as, though the botanical distinctions are very trifling, the natural ones are very 
decided. All the Loniceras are, indeed, stiff upright shrubs, with small scentless flowers, which grow only two 
