Photographs: Sherkin, Co. Cork

Japanese Honeysuckle Lonicera japonica Family: Caprifoliaceae Flowering May-July. Semi-evergreen shrub. Garden escape. Pairs of yellow-white flowers in leaf-axils, the corolla hairy on the outside, with two leaf-like bracts at base of each pair of flowers. Berries ripening to black. The leaves are semi-evergreen, ovate to oblong, on twining stems that become woody with age. To 5m+. Scattered distribution as a garden escape or relic of cultivation in Ireland, most frequently recorded from the south-east. Identified by Paul Green Similar: Honeysuckle, L. periclymenum. Native

Japanese Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica