Black Twinberry (Lonicera involucrata)

The Honeysuckle Family (Caprifoliaceae)

Habitat

This shrub grows from 1.5 - 10 feet (.5 - 3 meters) tall. Its habitat is moist clearings, streamside habitats, swamps, and thickets. It is found at low to subalpine elevations. Out at the arboretum, there is one growing next to the path that cuts across the small wash on the west side of the south meadow. This spring (2023) I planted one along the creek next to the White Oak Pavilion and one in a new garden bed out by the barn.

Leaves

The leaves are opposite, short-stalked, some elliptical to broadly lance-shaped, pointed, and often hairy beneath.

Flowers

They are yellow and tubular about 1 -2 cm long with 5 lobes. They grow in pairs on stalks from leaf axils and are cupped by large, green to purplish bracts. I see bumblebees pollinating the flowers.

Fruit

The fruits are shiny and black in a pair or “twin” as the common name suggests. The bracts that surrounded the flower become a rich reddish-purple. Trees and Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest say that the fruits are “inedible, poisonous.”

Bark

The bark is gray and slightly shredding or peeling.

References

Pojar, Jim, and Andy MacKinnon. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska (Revised). B.C. Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing, 1994.

Turner, Mark, and Ellen E. Kuhlmann. Trees & Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest. First edition, Timber Press, 2014.

Quick Reference:

Height: 1.5 - 10 feet
Leaves: Opposite, short-stalked, some elliptical to broadly lance-shaped, pointed.
Fruit: Shiny and black in a pair.
Habitat: Moist clearings, streamside habitats, swamps, and thickets.
Photo Location:
Mt. Pisgah Arboretum
Eugene, OR
Mt. Pisgah Arboretum Plant List