[Illustration: CORAL HONEYSUCKLE]
Usually shrubs; leaves opposite; calyx joining ovary wall, 5-lobed;
corolla 5-lobed, tubular and often 2-lipped; stamens 4-5, on
corolla-tube; ovary inferior; fruit a fleshy berry.
Southern Woodbine. Coral or Trumpet Honeysuckle (_Lonicera
sempervirens_) is quite common in the woods of East Texas and other
Southern States, blooming in Texas in late March and continuing until
fall. It is an evergreen vine that has been widely introduced into
cultivation. The flowers are not so conspicuously two-lipped as in the
white honeysuckle, the corolla-lobes being nearly equal. The scarlet
berries are ¼ inch long, ripening in the summer. This is one of a number
of plants which are commonly called woodbine. The group was named in
honor of Adam Lonitzer, an early German botanist.
The black haw (_Viburnum prunifolium_) is very abundant in Texas woods.
The showy ball-like clusters of white flowers appear with the leaves in
April and May, following the dogwood and red haws. The American elder
(_Sambucus canadensis_) is found along streams in Central and East
Texas.
[Illustration: WHITE HONEYSUCKLE]
White Honeysuckle (_Lonicera albiflora_) is a straggling bush which
usually grows in the shelter of a tree. The pale broad, oval leaves are
opposite and united at their bases, the uppermost pair being cup-shaped
and surrounding the cluster of flowers borne at the tip of the stem. The
fragrant flowers are less than an inch long with a narrow tube and 5
lobes, the lower lobe long and narrow and the 4 upper shorter, very much
like those of the common cultivated Japanese honeysuckle. The five
spreading stamens extend conspicuously beyond the corolla.
This plant blooms in April and May. It is scattered throughout the
central and western parts of the state, being especially abundant in the
western mountains, and ranges to Arkansas and Arizona. The Japanese
honeysuckle has escaped cultivation in places along the bayous of East
Texas.