Lonicera biflora Desf.
L. canescens Schousb.
Eng.: Honeysuckle. Spa.: Madreselva. Fre.: Chèvrefeuille. Ara.: Tiski, tainchfelt.
Climbing shrub, evergreen, hermaphrodite, with sarmentose branches up to 5 m long. Bark greyish, that peels off into longitudinal strips. Younger branchlets pubescent. Leaves opposite (2-9 cm long), petiolate, never fused, ovate to cordiform, ending in a subacute tip, with entire margin, finely pubescent on both sides, petiole also finely pubescent, green along the upper side, much lighter and greenish-grey on the underside. Flowers elongated, tubular (3-5 cm long), pubescent, borne in pairs on the axil of the leaves, geminate, with a single peduncle of 4-15 mm. Ovary ovoid crowned by a small calyx with 5 subacute lips. Corolla tubular, irregular, yellowish-white as it ages, with a single lobe on the lower lip and 4 smaller fused lobes on the upper lip. Stamens 5. Style and stamens very exserted from the corolla tube. Fruit a berry, black when mature.
Flowering:
May to July.
Fruiting:
Late summer and early autumn.
Habitat:
Forests and thickets with high edaphic moisture, generally next to watercourses, on very diverse terrains, from sea level up to 1,600 m in altitude. From semiarid (in that case, along watercourses) to humid bioclimate, on mainly thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Western Mediterranean. In North Africa, it is widely distributed over the non-steppic Mediterranean area of Morocco and NW of Algeria.
Conservation status:
Although it may become a relatively common species in some localities, it is usually a rare species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) it has been considered as Least Concern (LC).
