Caprifoliaceae

Caprifoliaceae, the honeysuckle family of the order Dipsacales, comprising about 42 genera and 890 species. The family is well known for its many ornamental shrubs and vines. It is primarily composed of north temperate species but also includes some tropical mountain plants. The phylogeny (history of evolutionary development) of Caprifoliaceae has been contentious, and the family is broadly circumscribed. Many of its members were formally placed in discrete families, though molecular and morphological evidence has led to their collective grouping under Caprifoliaceae.

Physical description

Members of Caprifoliaceae are trees, shrubs, vines, or herbs and are recognizable by their opposite leaves. The plants have bilaterally symmetric flowers with an elongate style, a generally capitate stigma, and a nectary formed by densely packed hairs along the lower inner part of the corolla tube. They have an inferior ovary that produces fleshy fruits, often with few seeds or only a single seed. The bark in the woody taxa often comes off in thin flakes.

Major genera and species

Lonicera is the largest genus of the family, with about 180 species commonly known as honeysuckles. Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is a fragrant flowering vine that kills other plants by climbing over them and shutting out the light.

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The closely related genera Valeriana (about 200 species) and Valerianella (80 species) are distributed in the Northern Hemisphere and in Andean South America. They are characterized by the rank odour of their stems and leaves when dried. Several species are important in traditional herbal medicine.

Another important genus is Scabiosa, the pincushion flower genus, with about 30 species. It is related to teasel (Dipsacus), which has 15 species.

The genus Abelia has about 30 species, which are native to East Asia and Mexico. Given this unusual geographical distribution, the taxonomy of the genus is contentious. Mexican abelia (A. floribunda) is cultivated as an ornamental and has bright green oval leaves and small clusters of fragrant pinkish purple tubular flowers. It may reach 1.8 metres (6 feet) but usually is shorter. The glossy abelia (A. ×grandiflora) has pinkish white blooms and is evergreen in warm climates.

Another widely cultivated genus is Symphoricarpos, commonly known as snowberries, with 18 species of deciduous shrubs. It includes common snowberry (S. albus) and coralberry (S. orbiculatus).

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Himalaya honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa) has long leaves and produces drooping spikes of purple flowers with purple bracts. It is one of six species in its genus, all of which are native to temperate Asia.

The bush honeysuckle genus, Diervilla, has three species of shrubs, which are native to North America.

Beauty bush (Kolkwitzia amabilis) is the only member of its genus and is grown as an ornamental for its showy flowers.