Lonicera nitida E.H.Wilson
hedge honeysuckle
Densely bushy, erect, evergreen shrub to c. 2.5 m high. Young shoots purple, densely puberulent and with scattered bristles. Petiole < 2 mm long. Lamina 5-12 × 3-8 mm, usually ovate to broad-ovate, less commonly elliptic, ± coriaceous, dark glossy green above, pale below, usually glabrous, sometimes with scattered hairs on midrib below; margins ± revolute; base cordate to rounded; apex obtuse, slightly mucronulate. Fls in axillary pairs, fragrant; peduncles very short. Bracteoles broadly triangular, < ovary. Calyx lobes c. 0.5 mm long, glandular-ciliate. Corolla 5-6 mm long, greenish white, with scattered hairs outside and densely glandular-scaly in lower part; tube c. 5 mm long; limb ± regular, < tube; lobes slightly unequal. Stamens exserted. Ovaries connate; style exserted. Fr. c. 5 mm diam., globular, translucent purple.
S.: Canterbury (Banks Peninsula, Hororata).
W. China 1988
Riverbed, roadside scrub.
FL Oct-Nov.
This sp. is very commonly cultivated for its box-like foliage as a hedge in many parts of N.Z. Occasionally spontaneous plants grow in the vicinity of old shrubberies and plantations, especially in colder parts of the country. Such plants may be a result of seed dispersal by birds, or of pieces of stem being washed downstream from gardens.
