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| The coral honeysuckle flowers are attractive to us and to pollinaors, especially hummingbirds. |
Coral honeysuckle, an easy-to-grow native for Florida and beyond.
Coral honeysuckle or scarlet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is native to most of eastern North America from eastern Texas to Massachusetts, including all but the southernmost counties in Florida. It's in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae.
It has opposite leaves along each stem, but the leaves that subtend the inflorescence (flower head) are joined together. This is known as perfoliate leaves.
The long tubular flowers, which are borne only on new wood, are especially favored by hummingbirds, but butterflies, bees, and moths also visit the flowers. After pollination, fruits, which are true berries, develop and are an important food source for many birds, especially the Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis). They also are the birds we seen most often nesting in the honeysuckle.
