Lonicera interrupta

Chaparral honeysuckle

Family: Caprifoliaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Chaparral honeysuckle is a California native shrub found in northwestern California, western Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, northern Sacramento Valley, central western, and southwestern California regions in dry slopes, ridges, floodplains, oak woodland, and chaparral at elevations of 240 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces cream-yellow flowers in long, interrupted spikes with deeply divided, strongly two-lipped corollas about 8 to 10 millimeters long. Growing with a rigid woody trunk approximately 3 decimeters tall and branches that climb or sprawl, it develops an erect habit with glabrous or slightly hairy foliage. Its leaves are elliptic to round, 2 to 2.5 centimeters long, with the upper 1 to 3 pairs uniquely fused around the stem, featuring bases that taper to rounded edges. The fruit develops as a bright red structure approximately 10 millimeters long, adding visual interest to the plant's distinctive form.

Habitat: dry slopes, ridges, floodplains, oak woodland, chaparral

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 240-1400 m

Bioregions: NW, w CaR, SN, n ScV, CW, SW

California counties: Fresno, Shasta, Kern, San Bernardino, Amador, Modoc, Tulare, Nevada, San Luis Obispo, Siskiyou, Riverside, Los Angeles, Del Norte, San Benito, Ventura, Tuolumne, Butte, Trinity, Monterey, Placer, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Mariposa, Mendocino, Lake, Calaveras, San Diego, Alpine, Santa Barbara, Madera, El Dorado, Glenn, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Orange, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Sutter, Alameda, Napa, Tehama, Colusa, San Mateo, Yuba, Yolo, Sonoma

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.