''Diervilla'', or bush honeysuckle, is a genus of three species of

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s in the family Caprifoliaceae, all indigenous to eastern North America. The genus is named after a French surgeon Dr. Marin

Diereville Diereville (Dièreville, Sieur de Dièreville, Dière de Dièreville) was a French surgeon, botanist and travel writer, born in France, probably in Pont-l'Évêque, Calvados. Dièreville is known mostly for his travels in Acadia from October 1699 ...

, who introduced the plant to Europe around 1700. The bush honeysuckles are low in height, , of small to medium diameter, , and develop into

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

by means of spreading underground

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s. Their

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are simple, opposite and either oval or lanceolate in shape with a toothed edge. The

fall Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...

color varies between yellow, orange and red. Small tubular

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s, typically pale yellow, are produced in June and July.

Species

Other species formerly included in ''Diervilla'' are now treated in the genus ''

Weigela ''Weigela'' is a genus of between six and 38 speciesAll of the species listed in the 'Selected species' section are accepted by The Plant List, but most are still under review, and therefore subject to changes in status. of deciduous shrubs in ...

''. The bush honeysuckles are commonly confused with the common wild honeysuckle ('' Lonicera tatarica''), or the

Japanese honeysuckle ''Lonicera japonica'', known as Japanese honeysuckle and golden-and-silver honeysuckle, is a species of honeysuckle native to eastern Asia. It is often grown as an ornamental plant, but has become an invasive species in a number of countries. Jap ...

(''Lonicera japonica''), both members of the closely related genus ''

Lonicera Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both contin ...

''. The British ''Diervilla'' national collection is held at

Sheffield Botanical Gardens The Sheffield Botanical Gardens are botanical gardens situated off Ecclesall Road in Sheffield, England, with 5,000 species of plants in 19 acres (77,000 m2) of land. The gardens were designed by Robert Marnock and first opened in 1836 ...

; along with the national collection of the closely related genus ''

''.Sheffield Botanical Gardens: Diervilla
/ref> ''Diervilla'' species are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

species including the

common emerald The common emerald (''Hemithea aestivaria'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species is found throughout the Nearctic and Palearctic regions and the Near East. It is mostly commonly found in the southern half of the British Isles. It was ...

and

the engrailed The engrailed and small engrailed (''Ectropis crepuscularia'') are moths of the family Geometridae found from the British Isles through central and eastern Europe to the Russian Far East and Kazakhstan. The western Mediterranean and Asia Minor ...

moths.

References

External links

British national collection at Sheffield Botanical GardensUSDA Plants Profile: ''Diervilla lonicera''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2697991 Caprifoliaceae Caprifoliaceae genera Flora of Canada Flora of the Eastern United States Shrubs