British Plants and Flowers – Honeysuckle

Name – Our own native honeysuckle, often found growing wild, is part of the genus Lonicera and is the specific species = periclymenum. The common name comes from the Old English hunigsuge or ‘honey-suck’, for the simple reason that ‘honey’ (or nectar) can be sucked from the flowers. Also known as woodbine which later became the name of a popular brand of cigarettes that said they smelt as sweet as woodbine!

Description - large wheel-shaped flower-heads are made up of rings of curved, almost tubular shaped individual flowers which open cream and quickly deepen to yellow sometimes becoming pink. The plants are vigorous twiners that climb rapidly up trellis or over arches and the scent is powerful and sweet.

Origin – The native honeysuckle looks superb trained up into trees or covering old tree stumps as long as you plant it so the roots are in shade but the stems and flowers can grow out into sun, it will be very sweet smelling. Honeysuckle is also one of the oldest medicinal herbs in known history. European honeysuckle was once used widely to treat urinary complaints, asthma, and during childbirth. In traditional Chinese medicine, honeysuckle has been used medicinally for millennia where it is seen as a key herb for releasing poisons from the body and clearing heat from the body. Honeysuckle is also said to protect gardens from evil and to symbolise a true lover's embrace with its clinging growing habits.

For decoration - If the bloom is brought into the house a wedding is said to follow within the year, but don’t forget that the honeysuckle's berries are poisonous.

British plant honeysuckle photograph by bc anna, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

bluebell, comfrey, flax, foxglove, hawthorn, heartsease, heather, herb robert, holly, hollyhock, honeysuckle, hop, hornbeam, jacobs ladder, larkspur, oak, periwinkle, rowan, silver birch, snowdrop, tansy, vipers bugloss, wild strawberry, willow, yarrow

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