Honeysuckle, from Wikipedia
“Tutmur fid uilleann, juicy wood is woodbine, that is woodbine with him, for it is a name for honeysuckle. Hence it was put for the Ogham named woodbine, ui; for hence was woodbine put for it, for it is a name for honeysuckle.”
From The Ogham Tract, from the Auraicept na N-Éces, Word Ogham of Morann Mac Main, at Celtic Literature Collection, http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/ogham.html
“The honeysuckle produces large amounts of nectar. It has strongly scented flowers, attracting moths in the evening. In Shakespeare's time, the plant was called woodbine.
Vine or shrub found in temperate regions of the world. The common honeysuckle or woodbine (L. periclymenum) of Europe is a climbing plant with sweet-scented flowers, reddish and yellow-tinted outside and creamy white inside; it now grows in the northeastern USA. (Genus Lonicera, family Caprifoliaceae.) … The North American trumpet honeysuckle (L. sempervirens) has unusual vaselike flowers and includes scarlet and yellow varieties.”
From tiscali.reference website, Great Britain, © Research Machines plc 2006, http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0014922.html
“When the internet is capable of producing smells, then an article about honeysuckle will be able to do justice to this flower. Its fragrance is wonderful …” From http://home.att.net/~larvalbugbio/honeysuckle.html
Honeysuckle: ogham’s ui
(irsish uileand, welsh gwyddfid)
Contents
Introduction
Botanical & Scientific Description
A European Native
In Japan a Native, In North America a Weed
Exotic Bush Honeysuckles – To Weed or Not to Weed
Caring for Honeysuckle (BBC)
Herbal & Medicinal Uses
I. Introduction. There are honesysuckles native to almost the entire world -- like there are people. It is known for its fragrance, medicinal qualities, and beauty. But move one species from one place to another and it becomes an unwanted, undesirable, overbearing, clinging guest that is almost impossible to get rid of. Like unwanted house guests … reminds me of my ex-wife actually, in more ways than one … but you’ll hear about that next.
It is an educational experience to study this plant because you have to recognize and confront its schizoid qualities. It’s all over the place, but when it’s good its very, very good, and when its bad, its very, very bad. Honeysuckle feeds birds ‘n bees, ‘n moths, ‘n butterflies, ‘n other critters, and some of them live in its shady hidey places. It makes people happy, even falling in love on a nice evening walk, and, as you’ll read below, some herbal doctors use it to help people cope with the past because it can sooth them out of their fixations on such stuff. But, it grows like crazy when it’s where it isn’t supposed to be, drowns out the sunlight and kills the plants it grows on or around, destroys the food and housing for the animals that depend on the native plants, and generally takes over and destroys native habitats.
So, honeysuckle is great in the garden, and in nature, when its various species are in their homelands (because the climates there keep it in its place), but its hell on wheels once it gets outta hand in a more luxurious climate – kind of like all the tourists from the mainland when they get to Honolulu or Maui, Hawaii. Ugghhhh. Have you ever on a tropical island and been “townside” when a big cruise ship lands? Yuck. I guess its kind of like this character o’god I heard about on the message boards … oops almost got offtrack here. Well on with the discourses on ogham plants (pronouned, I am told on good authority, like OM or the ‘ome’ in home, not like o’jam or o’g ham – go figure that one out, if its supposed to be OM, then why are the rest of the letters in it in the first place?). My crane bag is getting so full of stuff I’m gonna have to rest a bit after this one ... so I better be getting along here ….
There are varieties of honeysuckle native to the western US in California, the eastern US in Connecticut, to Europe and to Britain, to southern Russian and Turkistan, to Japan, and South Africa.
For California varieties and pictures to help identify the natives go to http://www.laspilitas.com/groups/lonicera/California_honeysuckle.htm
For Connecticut go to http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/lonicerasemp.html
For info on honeysuckle and other plants in Britain search http://www.rspb.org.uk/
For Russia/Turkistan go to http://www.naturehills.com/new/product/shrubs_productdetails.aspx?proname=Honeysuckle-Pink+Tatarian
For South Africa go to http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/capehoneysuckle.html
“The Honeysuckle Family is a classic example of a group of plants that have coevolved with insects and other pollinators.
Honeysuckles, abelias, and viburnums are all members of the Honeysuckle Family. Their distinctive blooms may be highly colorful and are often intensely fragrant. The flowers, which generally contain sweet nectar, are tube-shaped—highly adapted to the long probosces, or tongues, of pollinators such as butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds.
From the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, http://www.bbg.org/exp/stroll/plant_honey.html
As usual I just have to do my etymological and dictionary research or I wouldn’t feel complete, here from Answer.com:
hon·ey·suck·le (hŭn'ē-sŭk'əl) n.
1. Any of various shrubs or vines of the genus Lonicera, having opposite leaves, fragrant, usually paired tubular flowers, and small berries.
2. Any of various similar or related plants.
[Middle English honysoukel, alteration of honisouke, from Old English hunīsūce : hunig, honey + sūcan, to suck; see suck.]
And here is a fun introductory article from the 1911 Encyclopedia project. First, here is a description of the free encyclopedia project itself, I think its cool. It is amazing what you learn about when you start studying one thing, then it leads to another, then you forget what you started out to do, then you remember … there’s always something:
“Online Classic Encyclopedia – LoveToKnow. The LoveToKnow Free Online Encyclopedia is based on what many consider to be the best encyclopedia ever written: the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, first published in 1911. At a time when many encyclopedias have capsulated and condensed important knowledge, the 11th edition is generally much more in-depth and thorough on it's topics. It is not uncommon for our entries to be 5 to 10 times the length of other encyclopedias. As a research tool, this 11th edition is unparalleled - even today. LoveToKnow is in the process of updating and editing thousands of the entries, preserving the treasured entries that make it so unique, and adding entries on new relevant topics. We hope that you enjoy and learn from the LoveToKnow Free Online Encyclopedia and that it becomes one of your favorite places for reference information.” See http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/
HONEYSUCKLE [typos are in the original, probably from when it was scanned in from the 1911 text] (Mid. Eng., honysocle, i.e. any plant from which honey may be sucked,cf. A.-S. huni-suge, privet; Ger. Geissblatt; Fr. chvrefeuille), botanical name Lonicera, a genus of climbing, erect or prostrate shrubs, of the natural order Caprifoliaceae, so named after the 16th-century German botanist Adam Lonicer. The British species is L. Periclymenum, the woodbine; L. Caprifoliuin and L. Xylosleum are naturalized in a few counties in the south and east of England. Some of the garden varieties of the woodbine are very beautiful, and are held in high esteem for their delicious fragrance, even the wild plant, with its pale flowers, compensating for its sickly looks with never-cloying odours. The North American subevergreen L. sempervirens, with its fine heads of blossoms, commonly called the -~ ~ ~~j4i trumpet honeysuckle, ~ the most handsome of all the cultivated honey suckles, is a distinct and ~ ~ beautiful species pro ~ ~ ducing both scarlet and ~3TL~1 ~ e yellow flowered vane ties, and the Japanese (e L. fiexuosa var. aureo reticulata is esteemed for its charmingly varie gated leaves netted with - ,- golden yellow. The fly honeysuckle, L. Xylos leum, a hardy shrub of dwarfish, erect habit, and L. tatarica, of similar habit, both European, are amongst {~ the oldest English gar b den shrubs, and bear axillary flowers of various colors, occur Honeysuckle(a) Flowering branch; ring two on a peduncle.
(b) flower, nat. size; (c) fruit, slightly There are numerous red aced. other species, many of them introduced to our gardens, and well worth cultivating in shrubberies or as climbers on walls and bowers, either for their beauty or the fragrance of their blossoms.
In the western counties of England, and generally by agricul;urists, the name honeysuckle is applied to the meadow clover, irifolium pratense. Another plant of the same family (Leguminosae) Hedysarum coronarium, a very handsome hardy ~iicnnial often seen in old-fashioned collections of garden plants, is commonly called the French honeysuckle. The name is moreover applied with various affixes to several other totally different plants. Thus white honeysuckle and false honeysuckle are names for the North American Azalea viscosa; Australian or heath honeysuckle is the Australian Banksia serrata, Jamaica honeysuckle, Passitlora laurifolia, dwarf honeysuckle the widely spread Corn us suecica, Virgin Marys honeysuckle the European Pu/rn onaria officinalis, while \Vest Indian honeysuckle is Tecoma capensis, and is also a name applied to Desmodium.
The wood of the fly honeysuckle is extremely hard, and the clear portions between the joints of the stems, when their pith has been removed, were stated by Linnaeus to be utilized in Sweden far making tobacco-pipes. The wood is also employed to make teeth for rakes; and, like that of L. talarica, it is a favorite material for walking-sticks.
Honeysuckles (Lonicera) flourish in any ordinary garden soil, but are usually sadly neglected in regard to pruning. This should be done about March, cutting out some of the old wood, snd shortening hack some of the younger growths of the pre ceding yeai~.”
From http://82.1911encyclopedia.org/H/HO/HONEYSUCKLE.htm
I really love the old books and research. The lesson I get out of studying honeysuckle is that how we look at or value something - whether its good or bad, favorable or unfavorable, desirable or undesirable - depends on the circumstances. I gotta say, this has to be a feminine plant. Well, onward and upward … and, more particularly, on with the boring work of getting some of the more scientifical backgound on the subject of honeysuckle before we get to the medicianl uses and such.
II. Botanical & Scientific Description
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Lonicera |
Honeysuckles (genus Lonicera) are arching shrubs or twining vines, many with sweetly-scented, bell-shaped flowers. There are over 180 species of honeysuckle, the most common of which are Lonicera periclymenum (European honeysuckle), Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle, White honeysuckle, or Chinese honeysuckle) and Lonicera sempervirens (Coral honeysuckle, Trumpet honeysuckle, or Woodbine honeysuckle).
The leaves are opposite, simple oval, and from 1–10 cm long; most are deciduous but some are evergreen. The plant is eaten by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Honeysuckles.
Japanese honeysuckle and Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) are considered invasive weeds in the United States and in New Zealand. Honeysuckle can be controlled by cutting, flaming, or burning the plant to root level and repeating on two-week increments until nutrient reserves in the roots are depleted. Honeysuckle can also be controlled through annual applications of glyphosate, or through grubbing if high labor and soil destruction are not of concern.
Lonicera xylosteum (Fly Honeysuckle) is a common homeopathic remedy, used for asthma, breathing difficulties and syphilis.
Lonicera periclymenum (European honeysuckle) is an uncommon homeopathic remedy, used for irritability with violent outbursts.
Eglantine is also another name for honeysuckle, used in John Milton's L'Allegro.
From Wikipedia
Species of Honeysuckles
Lonicera x notha
Lonicera oblongifolia
Lonicera orientalis
Lonicera periclymenum
Lonicera reticulata
Lonicera ruprechtiana
Lonicera sempervirens
Lonicera standishii
Lonicera subspicata
Lonicera tatarica
Lonicera utahensis
Lonicera villosa
Lonicera x xylosteoides
Lonicera xylosteum
III. A European Native
Lonicera periclymenum
“European Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) is a deciduous climber that grows up to 10 m high. It is native to much of Europe, growing as far north as southern Norway and Sweden. It is often found in woodland or in hedgerows or scrubland. The flowers are creamy white or yellowish, trumpet shaped and very sweet smelling. It is commonly grown as a garden plant and various varieties have been developed for this purpose. The plant is usually pollinated by moths or long-tongued bees and develops bright red berries. This plant article is a stub. Please help Wikipedia grow by expanding it” (From Wikipedia)
There is a great looking British website devoted to better environment on the islands there, at the RSPB conservationist site at http://www.rspb.org.uk/. I like their slogan “for birds, for people, for ever.” This is one group that is not just “for the birds.” They named honeysuckle a plant of the month and put up some information about it in England. They have a lot of information about birds in England area, and other such stuff. A good starting point for info on honeysuckle over there or there, depending on how you see it:
Plant of the month: honeysuckle.
Our native honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) comes into flower at this time of year, spreading its wonderful fragrance throughout the garden and attracting bees.
There are some 180 species of honeysuckle, including the native wild flower, also known as woodbine. These range from stocky evergreen bushes to vigorous climbers.
The latter are great for covering a bare fence, trellis or arch and combine well with clematis, or earlier-flowering wall plants such as chaenomeles. Look for early-flowering Lonicera periclymenum Belgica, and the later flowering Serotina both of which mingle well with roses.
To plant a honeysuckle, dig a hole larger than the rootball, about 30 cm from a fence or wall, and add compost. Fill with soil level to the top of the rootball, firm in and water well. Keep moist through the summer. Honeysuckle needs support to cling to as it grows, so spread out the shoots as they grow and tie in.
From http://www.rspb.org.uk/
IV. In Japan a Native, In North America a Weed
Lonicera japonica
First the good news about the honeysuckle from Japan – it’s a valued herb, as described at the Alternative Nature Online Herbal website at http://altnature.com:
Japanese Honeysuckle
Lonicera japonica
Other Names Chin Yin Hua, Chin Yin T'Eng, Honeysuckle, Japanese Honeysuckle, Jen Tung, Jen Tung Chiu, Jen Tung Kao, Sui-Kazura, Yin Hua, Hall's Honeysuckle, White honeysuckle, Chinese honeysuckle, Halliana
Habitat
Perennial herb Native to E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea, now naturalized in Britain and the US from southern New York and New Jersey south to southern Florida and west to southwestern Texas. Inland it is distributed from Pennsylvania and West Virginia west to Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Widespread in the eastern and southern United States. Japanese honeysuckle is an important white-tailed deer food and is often invasive. Cultivation: prefers partial shade to full sun and moist soil. Prune back hard in winter to prevent the build-up of woody growth, provide a trellis. Climbing Vine, Shrub, it has a dense root system that may extend laterally for a distance of 7 to 10 feet, and attain depths of 3 to 4 feet. The simple, opposite, pinnate leaves are oval to oblong in shape and are semi-evergreen and may persist on vines year-round, up to 3 inches in length. The extremely fragrant, two-lipped flowers are borne in pairs in the axils of young branches and are produced throughout the summer. Flowers range from 1 to 2 inches in length and are white with a slight purple or pink tinge when young, changing to white or yellow with age, they are edible. The fruit is a black, berrylike drupe with three to five one-seeded stones. (See harvest times for various parts of the plant below).
Properties
Japanese honeysuckle is edible and medicinal. High in Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium, the leaves can be parboiled and eaten as a vegetable. The edible buds and flowers, made into a syrup or puddings. The entire plant has been used as an alternative medicine for thousands of years in Asia. The active constituents include calcium, elaidic-acid, hcn, inositol, linoleic-acid, lonicerin, luteolin, magnesium, myristic-acid, potassium, tannin, and zink. It is alterative, antibacterial, antiinflammatory, antispasmodic, depurative, diuretic, febrifuge, and is also used to reduce blood pressure. The stems are used internally in the treatment of acute rheumatoid arthritis, mumps and hepatitis. The stems are harvested in the autumn and winter, and are dried for later herb use. The stems and flowers are used together a medicinal infusion in the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections (including pneumonia) and dysentery. An infusion of the flower buds is used in the treatment of a wide range of ailments including syphillitic skin diseases and tumors, bacterial dysentery, colds, and enteritis. Experimentally, the flower extracts have been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels and are antibacterial, antiviral and tuberculostatic. Externally, the flowers are applied as a medicinal wash to skin inflammations, infectious rashes and sores. The flowers are harvested in early morning before they open and are dried for later herb use. This plant has become a serious weed in many areas of N. America, it might have the potential to be utilized for proven medicinal purposes. Other uses include; Ground cover, Insecticide, Basketry, vines used to make baskets. The white-flowers of cultivar 'Halliana' has a pronounced lemon-like perfume.
Article by Deb Jackson & Karen Bergeron; at http://altnature.com/gallery/Japanese_Honeysuckle.htm
And from the same website we get this folklore:
Folklore. Saponins in Japanese honeysuckle are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc. in order to stupefy or kill the fish.
Now for the not so good and bad news about honeysuckle:
The Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is a species of honeysuckle native to eastern Asia including Japan, Korea and northern China. It is a twining vine able to climb up to 10 m high or more in trees, with opposite, simple oval leaves 3-8 cm long, and sweetly scented double tongued flowers. The fruit is a globose dark blue berry 5-8 mm diameter containing numerous seeds.
Japanese Honeysuckle is considered an invasive exotic weed in the United States, and is classified as a noxious weed by the state of Illinois and New Zealand. It has done severe damage to eastern American woodlands, often forming vast clonal colonies on forest floors that displace virtually all native ground plants, and climbing into trees and shrubs and severely weakening and even killing them by cutting off sap flow and shading their leaves.
Japanese Honeysuckle
Nonetheless, this species is still sold by American nurseries, often as the cultivar 'Hall's Prolific'. It is an effective groundcover, and does have pleasant, strong-smelling flowers, but the damage it does far outweighs any positive qualities. The only invasive exotics that compete with this plant for total damage done in the eastern United States are Kudzu and Multiflora rose.
Honeysuckle can be controlled by cutting, flaming, or burning the plant to root level and repeating on two week increments until nutrient reserves in the roots are depleted. Honeysuckle can also be controlled through annual applications of glyphosate, or through grubbing if high labor and soil destruction are not of concern.”
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Honeysuckle
V. Exotic Bush Honeysuckles –
To Weed or Not to Weed
Lonicera fragrantissima (fragrant honeysuckle), L. maackii (Amur honeysuckle),
L. morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle), L. standishii (Standish's honeysuckle),
L. tatarica (Tartarian honeysuckle), L. xylosteum (European fly honeysuckle),
L. X bella (hybrid, pretty honeysuckle) and possibly others
Honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae)
These are the “exotic,” or non-native to North America, bush honeysuckles.
NATIVE RANGE: Eurasia (Japan, China, Korea, Manchuria, Turkey and southern Russia)
…. Exotic bush honeysuckles are upright, generally deciduous shrubs that range from 6 to 15 feet in height. The 1-2 ½ inch, egg-shaped leaves are opposite along the stem and short-stalked. Older stems are often hollow. Pairs of fragrant, tubular flowers less than an inch long are borne along the stem in the leaf axils. Flower color varies from creamy white to pink or crimson in some varieties of Tartarian honeysuckle. Flowering generally occurs from early to late spring, but varies for each species and cultivar. The fruits are red to orange, many-seeded berries. Native bush honeysuckles may be confused with these exotic species and cultivars, so proper identification is necessary. Unlike the exotics, most of our native bush honeysuckles have solid stems. (From Wikipedia)
The exotic bush honeysuckles are like a weed in North America. (See the many websites describing both their beauty and the area they have damaged on the east coast of the United States, at Google honeysuckle bush north america, etc.). The problem is they shade out native plants:
The Problem: The invasion of bush honeysuckles over the past 20 years is the main reason that there have been few new trees sprouting and growing in the Kennedy Woods. The honeysuckle starts turning green much earlier (late February!) than the native plants. By summer, when acorns and other native tree seeds sprout, the honeysuckle has largely shaded the forest understory, causing the seedlings to die. The honeysuckle is spread largely by birds, which eat the red berries (we'd prefer to restock noninvasive native shrubs for the birds). It is particularly important to remove the berry-producing plants. The past six years we've been highly successful at ridding certain areas of the woods of honeysuckle.
From http://www.treeswallow.com/honeysuckle/
VI. Caring for Honeysuckle (BBC)
“Growing tips [from the BBC garden pages]
Site and soil preferences: Most honeysuckles tolerate a wide range of conditions, making them easy to cultivate. The soil should be rich and leafy with plenty of added moisture-retaining organic matter. Japanese honeysuckle is probably the most versatile, coping with hot, dry soil, although it always performs better with its roots in cool shade.
Planting associations: A good mix for cottage gardens is Rosa 'Albertine' mingling with L. periclymenum 'Serotina'. Climbing honeysuckles also make fine companions with clematis, early-flowering chaenomeles and sprawling low-growing plants.
Pruning: The early varieties flower on last year's growth, and they need pruning immediately after flowering. Cutting back hard helps restrict their spread but you can also leave them to scale a tree or high wall.
Propagation: Most honeysuckles are easy to grow from cuttings, best taken while the plants are in full growth in July. Use gentle bottom heat to stimulate rooting, but move young plants to a cool spot as soon as they have a root system. Most honeysuckles also propagate themselves by a process called layering (their stems spread across and root in the soil), developing a sprawling complex of shrubs and suckers if left unchecked.
Problem solver: Aphids are a major problem, attacking plants whose roots become too dry. These pests transmit a virus that will weaken and eventually kill honeysuckle. To control them, use a spray or grow the plants so their feet are in shade and their head in the sun.
Where to see them [in Britain]:
National Collections of Loniceras
Dr TM Upson
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
Cory Lodge, Bateman Street
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB2 1JF
Tel: 0123 336265
Website: www.botanic.cam.ac.uk
From the BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plantprofile_honeysuckle.shtml
VII. Herbal & Medicinal Uses
“Honeysuckle is an herb used primarily in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). It is found in many cleansing and detoxifying blends because of its ability to clear heat, wind and toxins from the blood and liver. It is commonly used for sore throat, fever, skin blemishes and rashes. Honeysuckle combines well with chrysanthemum flowers.
Honeysuckle contains tannins which are being studied for it's possible inhibitory effects on HIV. Fifty seven compounds have been identified in the essential oil of the flowers [1].
Topically, honeysuckle may be used effectively for fever [2] and skin ailments and rashes. Many skin conditions caused by inflammation or internal heat will benefit from the heat and toxin removing actions of the herb.
Warnings: Leaves contain toxic saponins. Plant Poisonings In Children (most likely applies to the leaves)
From About.com, Healthy Herbs http://healthyherbs.about.com/library/weekly/aa112900.htm
From good old Wikipedia we learn:
The Japanese honeysuckle flower is of high medicinal value in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, and is used to dispel heat and remove toxins, including carbuncles, fevers, influenza and ulcers. It is, however, of cold and yin nature, and should not be taken by anyone with weak and "cold" digestive system.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Honeysuckle
One commentator describes its various symbolic, physical, and psychological powers:
Honeysuckle is also known as Woodbine. It twists and coils as the Ivy does. Beautiful yellow flowers entwine with the leaves. Its scent is very cloying and sweet. The Honeysuckle shows the way in which to achieve the search for the self. Honeysuckle indicates hidden desires, secrets and the path to the search for the self.
Physical: Pursue your desires, allow yourself to experience pleasure - you are not a monk. By joy do we learn, not by abstinence of what we enjoy.
Mental: The hidden secrets you pursue are not as impenetrable as you suspect. They are simply muted by background noises, home in on the secrets, put aside the distractions.
Spiritual: Remain true to your beliefs and principles in your journey to the self. Follow the Honeysuckle in safety and joy.
From Colleen Whittaker, http://www.geocities.com/wellesley/1294/meanings_of_the_ogham_staves.html
It has pyschic, spiritual, mental healing uses:
“Honeysuckle is for people who live in the past instead of the present. They feel that their best days are behind them and that there is little to look forward to, and as a consequence they prefer to dwell on past happinesses (or past misfortunes). At a more minor key, homesickness and nostalgia are also Honeysuckle states.
The remedy helps the person in this state to learn from the past without needing to relive it, so that the person can progress on into the present and take joy from today and tomorrow.”
From the Dr. Edward Back Centre, Mt. Vernon, England, http://www.bachcentre.com/index.html
Now that last bit fits right in with a web story on the BBC site about a man who plants honeysuckle to remember his past and happy times with his family (which of course we all don’t have, but you get the idea) … “David Lewis of Buckley on how the scent of honeysuckle brings back powerful memories of happy times with his family....”
See the story at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/mystory/pages/david_lewis.shtml.
Honeysuckle is the subject of scientific research, it may have a role in AIDS treatment:
1: Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 1992 May;17(5):268-70, 319.
[Analysis of chemical constituent of essential oil in Lonicera japonnica Thunb. cultivated on the northern plain of Henan Province]
[Article in Chinese]
Wang G, Zhu X, Wang J, Jia W, Yuan Y, Nan P, Yuan P.
Wuhan Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica.
The chemical constituents of the essential oil in the dry flower and fresh flower of Lonicera japonica were analyzed by the GC-MS-DS technique and the superimposition of authentic samples. 27 and 30 monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids were identified from the essential oil of the dry flower and fresh flower respectively. The major constituents have been found to be linalool, geraniol, aromadendrene and eugenol etc.
2. Differential inhibition of reverse transcriptase and cellular DNA polymerase-alpha activities by lignans isolated from Chinese herbs, Phyllanthus myrtifolius Moon, and tannins from Lonicera japonica Thunb and Castanopsis hystrix.
Chang CW, Lin MT, Lee SS, Liu KC, Hsu FL, Lin JY.
Institute of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
Two lignans, phyllamycin B and retrojusticidin B isolated from Phyllanthus myrtifolius Moon have been demonstrated to have a strong inhibitory effect on human immunodeficiency virus-1 reverse transcriptase activity (HIV-1 RT), but much less inhibitory effect on human DNA polymerase-alpha (HDNAP-alpha) activity. Fifty percent inhibitory concentrations of phyllamycin B and retrojusticidin B were determined to be 3.5 and 5.5 microM for HIV-1 RT, and 289 and 989 microM for HDNAP-alpha, respectively. The mode of inhibition was found to be non-competitive inhibition with respect to template-primer and triphosphate substrate. Several tannins such as caffeoylquinates (CQs) isolated from Lonicera japonica Thunb, galloylquinates (GQs) and galloylshikimates (GSs) purified from Castanopsis hystrix were shown to have a much less selective inhibitory effect on HIV-1 RT.
From the National Center for Biotechnology Information, affiliated with the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, US. See at About.com http://healthyherbs.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi%3Fcmd=Retrieve%26amp%3Bdb=PubMed%26amp%3Blist%5Fuids=8540756%26amp%3Bdopt=Abstract
I guess as with a lot of plants there are things to watch out for, besides honeysuckle being a weed:
Plant poisonings in children.
Lamminpaa A, Kinos M.
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
1. Plant poisonings comprise 5% of all hospitalizations due to poisonings in children and plant inquiries to Poison Information Centre consist about 28% of calls concerning children. 2. A search of 71 cases of hospitalization due to plants in a 5 year period obtained from two children's hospitals in Helsinki were reviewed and 105 plant inquiries concerning poisonings among children to the Poison Information Centre in a 6 month period were studied. 3. The most frequent plant poisonings involved lily-of-the-valley, dumb cane and cotoneaster plant. Only 11% of the cases treated in hospital were evaluated to be unequivocal poisonings. 4. Mezereon, snowberry, cotoneaster plant, honeysuckle, and woody nightshade caused the most serious symptoms. Symptoms in mezereon poisoning were increased saliva excretion, haematuria and diarrhoea in a 1.2-year-old girl. Snowberries caused a semicomatose state and difficulty in urination, cotoneaster caused severe stomach ache, honeysuckle abudant gastrointestinal symptoms and muscle cramps, and nightshade led to prolonged high fever and sweating. 5. It appears that almost all plant poisonings could be treated with medical charcoal. Gastric evacuation is seldom required.
(emphasis added) From About.com, US NIH web info, http://healthyherbs.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi%3Fcmd=Retrieve%26amp%3Bdb=PubMed%26amp%3Blist%5Fuids=8839213%26amp%3Bdopt=Abstract
To end on a positive note, given the schizoid nature of dealing with something as sweet smelling, innocent, and pretty that’s also dangerous, shading, and killing, lets see how to make tea out of honeysuckle according to one web site:
How To Make Honeysuckle Tea
Cooling and toxin clearing tea for sore throat and skin ailments.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 30 min.
Here's How:
1. Boil water.
2. Remove water from heat and add herbs.
3. Cover and steep 15 min.
4. Strain.
5. Drink 1 cup 3-5 times per day.
Tips:
1. For skin blemishes, supplement with dandelion and/or burdock root.
2. Make a stronger tea for topical applications.
What You Need:
· 1/2 c. honeysuckle flower
· 1/2 c. chrysanthemum flow
· 1 quart water
From About.com Healthy Herbs http://healthyherbs.about.com/cs/recipies/ht/hstea.htm
Well, that’s about it for now. This is a work in progress, so if anyone else feels like adding to it just contact Kernos (I love remembering his name as Cornnuts, its easier for me to remember). As always, one fer all and all fer one. O’g.