Home › Contents › Bush-Honeysuckle

Bush-Honeysuckle

Diervilla trifida. Honeysuckle Family.

An upright shrub from one to four feet high. Leaves.--Opposite; oblong; taper-pointed. Flowers.--Yellow, sometimes much tinged with red; clustered usually in threes in the axils of the upper leaves and at the summit of the stem. Calyx.--With slender awl-shaped lobes. Corolla.--Funnel-form; five-lobed; the lower lobe larger than the others and of a deeper yellow, with a small nectar-bearing gland as its base. Stamens.--Five. Pistil.--One. This pretty little shrub is found along our rocky hills and mountains. The blossoms appear in early summer, and form a good example of nectar-bearing flowers. The lower lobe of the corolla is crested and more deeply colored than the others, thus advising the bee of secreted treasure. The hairy filaments of the stamens are so placed as to protect the nectar from injury by rain. When the blossom has been despoiled and at the same time fertilized, for the nectar-seeking bee has probably deposited some pollen upon its pistil, the color of the corolla changes from a pale to a deep yellow, thus giving warning to the insect-world that further attentions would be useless to both parties.