Orange Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa)

This text was originally published in Coastal Grower (formerly The Island Grower) in Victoria, British Columbia. For subscription information, please call Susanne Steele at the Coastal Grower at 250-478-0825.

Plants have developed many strategies to get light when competing with other plants. Some grow enormously tall, some latch onto branches in the canopy, and some grow in openings. One group, the vines, scramble or twine their way to the light using larger and sturdier plants for support. British Columbia has only a handful of true climbing vines, among them beautiful orange honeysuckle of the Honeysuckle Family (Caprifoliaceae).

Orange honeysuckle lives as a branching vine twining its way up shrubs and trees to heights of 2-7 m (6.6 - 23'). Stringy greyish bark covers the flexuous stem. Once the vine reaches sun the stem divides many times to form a cascading mantle over the supporting tree or shrub.

The oppositely paired, bright green leaves are elliptical in outline and have an entire margin. Most distinctive are the leaves that surround the flower cluster, for these are joined at the base and form a oval saucer-like structure.

Bright orange flowers cluster at the end of a short stalk within the leaf saucer. There may be as few as one or two blooms or as many as 20-30 in a cluster, depending upon the vigour of the plant. The flower consists of a narrow 4-cm-long tube attached to a tiny green sphere, the ovary. Near the base of the flower tube there is a pouch that collects sweet nectar, an offering for the pollinating hummingbirds. Five petal lobes diverge at the mouth of the flower, four of them sweeping upward and one curving downward. Five anthers and one pistil protrude just out of the blossom's mouth. Flowering time is late spring and early summer. Bright red juicy berries replace the fertilized flowers.

Orange honeysuckle favours the southern parts of British Columbia, ranging from Vancouver Island, where it is particularly common along the south east side, onto the mainland as far east at least as Creston. The species is widespread throughout the northwestern United States. The natural habitats includes woods and thickets. Orange honeysuckle grows abundantly on shrubs and trees along roadsides.

Of our native species, this one is the most delightful for the garden and best to grow. Propagate orange honeysuckle from hardwood cuttings dabbed with a little rooting hormone and put in sand outdoors. Vigorous young summer shoots will root in soil with bottom heat too. You might try layering a branch or two. Apparently honeysuckle seeds germinate irregularly, needing a cold period.

Orange honeysuckle will thrive in any well-drained (but still moist) soil, especially if it has lots of organic debris. Plant next to a fence, shrub or tree where the vine can wander lazily upwards. Some people use it as a ground cover allowing the stem to ramble over the surface. This vine would probably do well as a native landscape species.

Native peoples from the Interior of B.C. worked the stem fibres of orange honeysuckle with other fibre materials into mats, blankets and capes. Like the vines of the tropics, stout woody lengths were used to reinforce suspension bridges over canyons and rivers. The berries were not eaten though young children liked to suck the nectar from the bottom of the flower tube. Squamish peoples called the honeysuckle "swing of the ghosts". There are no reports of honeysuckle berries being poisonous.

The botanical name Lonicera commemorates Adam Lonitzer, a German herbalist of the 15th century. The hairy (ciliate) inside of the flower tube is the source of the species name ciliosa.

If you are looking for a durable native vine and want to attract hummingbirds, then try growing orange honeysuckle.

For more information on this and other native plant species contact Richard Hebda at the Royal British Columbia Museum.