Tatarian honeysuckle
Lonicera tatarica L.

Overview

Appearance

Lonicera tatarica is a multistemmed, upright, woody, deciduous shrub that grows up to 10 ft. (3 m) tall. The bark is light gray and can often peel in vertical strips.

Foliage

The leaves are opposite, ovate, 1.5-2.5 in. (3.8-6.4 cm) long and blue-green. Often, it is one of the first shrubs to leaf out in the spring.

Flowers

Flowers develop in pairs in the axils of the leaves in May to June. Flowers are deeply 5-lobed, tubular, usually pink to red and rarely white.

Fruit

The abundant paired berries are 0.25 in. (0.6 cm) in diameter, ripen to an orange to red color and often persist throughout winter.

Ecological Threat

Lonicera tatarica readily invades open woodlands, old fields, and other disturbed sites. It can spread rapidly due to birds and mammals dispersing the seeds and can form an extremely dense understory thicket which can restrict native plant growth and tree seedling establishment. This plant is a native of eastern Asia and was first introduced into North America as an ornamental in 1752.

Resources

• A Field Guide for the Identification of Invasive Plants in Southern Forests - USDA Forest Service
• Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas - National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council Invasive Plant Manual - SE-EPPC
• Weeds Gone Wild: Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas - Plant Conservation Alliance
• Element Stewardship Abstract - The Nature Conservancy
• Weed of the Week - USDA Forest Service

Selected Images

Maps

Invasive Listing Sources

• City of Ann Arbor Michigan Parks and Recreation
• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, 1994.
• Connecticut Invasive Plant List
• Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group
• Connecticut Noxious Weeds
• Delaware Invasive Species Council
• Delaware Invasive Species Council Invasive Species List
• Hoffman, R. & K. Kearns, Eds. 1997. Wisconsin manual of control recommendations for ecologically invasive plants. Wisconsin Dept. Natural Resources, Bureau of Endangered Resources. Madison, Wisconsin. 102pp.
• Illinois Exotic Weed Act
• Indiana Invasive Species Council - Invasive Plant List
• Invasive Plant Association of Wisconsin
• Invasive Plant Species of West Virginia
• Jil M. Swearingen, Survey of invasive plants occurring on National Park Service lands, 2000-2007
• John Randall, The Nature Conservancy, Survey of TNC Preserves, 1995.
• Kentucky Exotic Pest Plant Council - Moderate Threat
• Maine Noxious Weeds
• Maryland Cooperative Extension Service.  2003. Invasive Plant Control in Maryland. Home and Garden Information Center, Home and Garden Mimeo HG88. 4 pp.
• Maryland Department of Natural Resources Policy: Restriction on Planting Exotic Invasive Plants
• Maryland Invasive Species Council - Invasive Species of Concern in Maryland
• Massachusetts Invasive Plants Advisory Group List
• Massachusetts Noxious Weeds
• Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List
• Minnesota Noxious Weeds
• National Park Service, Mid-Atlantic Exotic Plant Management Team Invasive Plant List
• New Hampshire Invasive Species Committee. 2005. Guide to Invasive Upland Plant Species in New Hampshire. New Hampshire Department of Agriculture,  Markets and Food Plant Industry Division and New Hampshire Invasive Species Committee.
• New Hampshire Prohibited Invasive Species
• New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team 2017 Invasive Species List
• New York Regulated and Prohibited Invasive Species - Prohibited
• Non-Native Invasive Plants of Arlington County, Virginia
• Nonnative Invasive Species in Southern Forest and Grassland Ecosystems
• Ohio Invasive Species Council
• Ontario’s Invading Species Awareness Program Tracked Species List
• Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Invasive Plants
• Reichard, Sarah. 1994.  Assessing the potential of invasiveness in woody plants introduced in North America. University of Washington Ph.D. dissertation.
• Rhode Island Natural History Survey
• Vermont Noxious Weeds
• Virginia Invasive Plant Species List
• WeedUS - Database of Plants Invading Natural Areas in the United States
• West Virginia Department of Agriculture Regulations Governing the Distribution of Plant Materials
• West Virginia Invasive Species Strategic Plan and Volunteer Guidelines 2014
• West Virginia Native Plant Society, Flora West Virginia Project, and West Virginia Curatorial Database System, September 3, 1999
• West Virginia Noxious Weeds
• Wisconsin Noxious Weeds
• Wisconsin's Invasive species rule – NR 40

References