Japanese HoneySuckle

The Japanese honeysuckle also known as the Lonicera japonica; Suikazura スイカズラ／吸い葛 in Japanese; Jinyinhua in Chinese; 冬 in Chinese and Japanese (Wikipedia Translation), is a  species of honeysuckle native to eastern Asia including China, Japan and Korea. The Japanese honeysuckle should be accurately identified before attempting any control measures. If identification of the species is in doubt, the plant's identity should be confirmed by a knowledgeable individual and by consulting appropriate books.



The Japanese honeysuckle is native to Japan, introduced to the U.S. in 1806 for the culvating ground-cover purposes. It was slow to escape and did not become established over the eastern U.S. until the early 1900s. It occurs as far north as Illinois and Michigan, from Texas to Florida, and north to Massachusetts, New York and Ohio.

Japanese Honeysuckle has become an invasive exotic weed in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand and much of the United States, including Hawaii, as well as a number of Pacific and Caribbean islands. It is classified as a noxious weed in several US states, including Illinois and Virginia. It has done severe damage to eastern American woodlands, often forming vast colonies on forest floors that displace virtually all native ground plants, and climbing into trees and shrubs and severely weakening and even killing them by cutting off sap flow and shading their leaves.


Work Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonicera_japonica
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/loja1.htm
http://www.gri.msstate.edu/ipams/species.php?CName=Japanese%20honeysuckle