Lonicera periclymenum L. subsp. hispanica (Boiss. & Reut.) Nyman
L. hispanica Boiss. & Reut.
Eng.: Honeysuckle. Spa.: Madreselva. Fre.: Chèvrefeuille.
Climbing shrub, deciduous, hermaphrodite, with long, flexible branches up to 2-3 m long. Bark of older and thicker branches greyish and peeling into strips. Young branchlets greenish-bluish, somewhat villous. Leaves (3-9 cm long), opposite, petiolate, never fused (unlike in previous species), from ovate to ovate-elliptic, margin usually entire or sinuate; very soft, villous on both sides, sparsely covered in hairs that fall off progressively until becoming almost glabrous at the end of summer; green on the upper side, lighter and with bluish-white tones on the underside. Flowers elongated, tubular (3-5 cm long), on dense glomeruli, longly pedunculated, at the end of the branches. Ovary ovoid with a small calyx with 5 small ovate teeth. Corolla tubular, white-yellowish, irregular, with 2 different lips: lower lip is a single very elongated lobes and upper lip is formed by 4 equal fused lobes. Stamens and style very exserted from the corolla tube. Fruit an ovoid-rounded berry, red.
Flowering:
May to June.
Fruiting:
August to October.
Habitat:
Forests and thickets on very diverse terrains, but it seems to have a preference for siliceous soils. From dry to humid bioclimate, mainly on thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean floors. It can withstand the cold well, but it does not tolerate strong insolation or drought.
Distribution:
The species in a broad sense grows through western Europe. The subsp. hispanica, it is found in central and southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula and in the NW corner of Africa (N of Morocco). To the S it reaches the Middle Atlas.
Conservation status:
Fairly rare species but widely distributed. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.