Family Caprifoliaceae

There are several Eurasian Honeysuckles which are invasive in midwestern woodlands.  We have Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), Morrow’s Honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii), Showy Honeysuckle (Lonicera x bella), and possibly Tartarian Honeysuckle (Lonicera tartarica).

Showy Honeysuckle has rounded, opposite leaves, and pink or white flowers.  It’s a hybrid created for the nursery trade between Morrow’s Honeysuckle and Tartarian Honeysuckle.

 

Morrow’s Honeysuckle has white flowers that turn yellow as they age, and rounded or softly pointed leaves.

 

Amur Honeysuckle is not quite as common as the others, but I’m beginning to find it in many parts of our woods.  It has leaves that taper to a point.

 

In the fall all three have bright red berries, which are enthusiastically eaten by birds.

 

All of these grow into large spreading bushes which are aggressive, and grow well in our woods. The shrub layer in some parts of our woodlands is almost entirely made up of these exotic shrubs.

 

 

 

Some of the older bushes get to be huge, with many stems.

 

 

One interesting study suggests that exotic honeysuckles make woodlands more attractive to deer, and thus increase the number of deer ticks.  That seems like another good reason to get rid of these invasive shrubs.

The best method I’ve found for control is to cut the stems with either clippers or a chain saw, as close to the ground as possible, and treat each stem with 25% glyphosate.  It’s important to treat every cut stem of the clump – if I miss some, they’ll sprout.   Tom Brock did a study to determine which herbicide and which time of year works best for this treatment.  He found that using glyphosate at any time of year works fine.  Our local DNR folks have also found that glyphosate works better than other herbicides.

I tend to do most of my cutting in the fall and early spring – whenever other invasive projects aren’t too pressing.  Because the bushes are so big, I can do a large area fairly quickly, and make a big visual difference in the woodland.  I follow up in subsequent years to find and treat seedlings and sprouts that I missed.

I often find very small honeysuckles – with one or two short branches.  These can usually be pulled out fairly easily – they have just a few very shallow roots at that early stage.