Pronunciation: loh-NIS-er-ah mor-ROW-ee-eye
Paired white flowers with fine hairs on the buds and young growth.
Family Caprifoliaceae · honeysuckle family
Genus Lonicera
Growth Deciduous woody shrub
Height 6–12 feet
Bloom May–June in the Midwest
Habitat Woodland edges, thickets and disturbed ground
Status Non-native and invasive in the Midwest
Observation maps show reported sightings, including planted or escaped populations. They do not define the native range.
Leaves: opposite, oval to oblong and untoothed, with blunt or short-pointed tips. Look for pale, softly hairy undersides.
Flowers: paired white or cream blooms turn yellow with age. The outside of the corolla and sepals is finely hairy.
Stalks and twigs: young branchlets are hairy. Shared flower stalks are typically 5–15 mm long, longer than the leaf stalks.
Look along woodland edges, fence rows, roadsides, old fields and wetland margins. This branching shrub can form dense thickets.
Flowers typically appear in May–June in the Midwest, followed by red berries in summer. Fruit color alone cannot distinguish the invasive bush honeysuckles; photograph leaf undersides and young twigs too.
Native to northeastern China, Korea and Japan. Introduced across much of eastern North America, including Wisconsin and Illinois.
Sightings maps include reported occurrences and do not define the native range.
Compare several clues together: growth form, leaf tips, hairs and flower stalks. Flower color alone does not separate the bush honeysuckles.
Lonicera maackii
Long, tapering leaf tips; flower or fruit pairs are held close to the twig.
Lonicera tatarica
Typically hairless young twigs, leaf undersides and outer flower surfaces, with longer flower stalks. Flowers may be pink or white.
Lonicera × bella
A variable Morrow’s × Tatarian hybrid. Pink flowers with hairy foliage suggest checking for this hybrid, but are not conclusive. White flowers do not exclude it. Photo identification is tentative.
Lonicera dioica
A native vine with upper leaf pairs joined around the stem and terminal clusters of tubular flowers.
Birds disperse the seeds after eating the berries. Dense stands shade native vegetation, and the shrub’s long leafy season gives it an advantage at woodland edges.
Morrow’s crosses with Tatarian Honeysuckle to produce Bell’s Honeysuckle (Lonicera × bella). Intermediate plants may require close examination of flowers, leaf undersides and young shoots.
Morrowii honors James Morrow, who collected plants in Japan. Asian Fly Honeysuckle is another common name. It belongs to Caprifoliaceae, the honeysuckle family.
Explore more species in the guide, then practice recognizing wildflowers in the quiz.
