Flora of New Zealand Series

Himalayan honeysuckle

Shrub to 2-(3) m high; stems hollow, glabrous, green, glaucous at first. Petiole 0.5-2-(5) cm long, purplish, with hairy groove on upper side. Lamina 4-14-(24) × 1.5-8-(12) cm, ovate or broad-ovate, mostly entire, sometimes 5-9-lobed (rarely divided almost to midrib) with rounded sinuses, becoming glabrous except for midrib and bases of main veins; base rounded to cordate; apex long-acuminate. Infl. 3-8 cm long at flowering. Bracts mostly 1-3 cm long, sessile, broad-ovate, aristate-acuminate, ± glandular-hairy, usually deep reddish purple. Calyx small, hidden by bracts; lobes very unequal. Corolla c. 1.5 cm long, funnelform, white; lobes rounded at apex, much < tube, with glandular-hairy margins. Stamens shortly exserted. Style > stamens. Berry 7-10 mm diam., subglobose, dark brownish purple, glandular-hairy. Seed 1.1-1.5 mm long, obovoid-ellipsoid, shining brown, minutely white-dotted.

N.; S.; St.: often abundant in wetter western regions, but often absent from drier eastern coastal areas and lowlands from Poverty Bay to N. Otago.

Temperate Himalaya 1878

Scrubland, riverbanks, lakesides, forest margins, especially common in cut-over forest.

FL Dec-May.

Possibly poisonous (Connor 1977).

In some areas Himalayan honeysuckle is a serious weed, particularly as it can hinder regeneration of indigenous spp. or smother young introduced timber trees in plantations. The many-seeded frs are produced in abundance, and bird and water dispersal in many areas have resulted in most suitable sites being colonised.