''Lonicera subspicata'' is a species of

honeysuckle 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 ...

known by the common name southern honeysuckle. It is native to

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and northern

Baja California Sur Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...

, where it is known from several areas in mountain and coastal habitat, particularly

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

. It is a vining

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 ...

which usually climbs on other plants for support.

Description

This plant grows twining or reclining on shrubs, and may reach 9 to 24

decimeters The decimetre (symbol dm) or decimeter (American English) is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one tenth of a metre, ten centimetres, 100 millimetres or 3.937 inches. The common non-SI metric unit of volume, ...

in length. The herbage is glabrous to puberulent. The leaves are generally 1 to 4 cm long, with the base of the leaf blade round or more or less tapered, and the tip of the leaf shaped round or obtuse. Upper pairs are not fused around the stem. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a long, fuzzy spike of light yellow flowers each about a centimeter long. The flower has an upper and lower lip with hairy

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s and style protruding. The corolla is 8 to 12 mm long, colored pale yellow, and often hairy. The fruit is around 8 mm in size, and is a red or yellow berry.

Subdivisions

var. ''denudata''

Johnston's honeysuckle

Synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

: ''Lonicera subspicata'' var. ''johnstonii'' In this variety, the leaves are shaped wide-elliptic to more or less round, and are less than twice as long as they are wide. It is found in Butte County, the

California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. P ...

, the

Transverse Ranges The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa B ...

, and the

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...

into

. Flowering is from June to July

var. ''subspicata''

Santa Barbara honeysuckle In this variety, the leaves are shaped narrowly elliptic, and are 3 to 4 times longer than they are wide. It is found only on Santa Catalina Island and the western

. Flowering is from April to May.

Distribution and habitat

This shrub occurs from the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

and the northern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

south through the

Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although the ...

, into the

and

that extend through

. It reaches its southern distribution at the

Tres Vírgenes Tres Vírgenes is a complex of volcanoes located in the Mulegé Municipality in the state of Baja California Sur, on the Baja California Peninsula in northwestern Mexico. This Volcano is part of a volcanic ridge that extends from Baja California ...

. It is also found on Cedros Island.

Cultivation

For variety ''denudata'', the fruit is reportedly edible. In cultivation, the plant makes a drought-tolerant vining shrub that is good cover for a low fence or the north side of a house. It will climb with support. It is cold hardy to 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
subspicata Flora of California Flora of Baja California Flora of Baja California Sur {{Dipsacales-stub