Lonicera japonica

Japanese honeysuckle

Family: Caprifoliaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Japanese honeysuckle is a naturalized, twining shrub found in the Deltaics, northern Central Coast, Southern California, and San Gabriel Mountains in disturbed places at elevations generally below 1,000 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white to yellow flowers with purple tints, 25 to 40 millimeters long, arranged in pairs with leaf-like bracts. Growing with twining stems that are glabrous or soft-hairy, it creates dense, tangled formations in its habitat. Its leaves are oblong to ovate, 3 to 8 centimeters long, with rounded bases and slightly acute tips. The fruit develops as a distinctive black berry, completing the plant's characteristic growth cycle.

Habitat: Disturbed places

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: generally < 1000 m

Bioregions: Deltaic GV, n CCo, SCo, SnGb, expected elsewhere

California counties: Orange, Contra Costa, San Bernardino, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Riverside, Lake, Fresno, Marin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, Sacramento, Yolo, Butte, Alameda, Santa Clara, Placer, Monterey

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