Description

General - low, erect or ascending shrub, usually less than 1 m tall; young stems finely hairy; bark of older twigs reddish brown to grey, outer papery layers soon split and peel to expose reddish brown inner layers.

Leaves - simple, opposite, oblong, widest above middle, 2-6 cm long, short-stalked, round-tipped, with fringe of hairs, hairy below

Flowers - in pairs on short stalks from leaf axils, enclosed at base by narrow green bracts; petals yellow, united to form a 5-lobed, often hairy, tube, 8-15 mm long; appearing in June.

Fruit - many-seeded, blue-black berries, up to 1 cm long, covered with blue bloom, edible; ripening in July and August.

Habitat

Swamps, treed fens and streambanks across NW Ontario's boreal forest, west to the prairie provinces.

Notes

Distinguishable from non-flowering specimens of other Lonicera by its small, hairy, crowded leaves.

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