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Weed identification #867655

Asked May 08, 2024, 7:01 PM EDT

I think this is Japanese honeysuckle. Can you confirm? Thanks

Montgomery County Maryland

Expert Response

Flowers are a key feature with plant ID, since foliage can vary based on growing conditions and plant maturity (for example, young leaves on this species will have lobes, and the older leaves will not). The pictured vine does look like Japanese Honeysuckle, but we can't be certain.

Miri
Thanks Miri!  So wait for this to flower and we will have more information for the ID.
The Question Asker Replied May 09, 2024, 12:43 PM EDT
Normally yes, but since this does look like a weedy honeysuckle (and if you don't want the plant where it is, it technically is a weed, regardless of species), you may want to take it out prior to letting it bloom. This plant, if as young as it looks, might need to mature for several more years to reach flowering age, and usually gardeners don't want to maintain an unknown/unwanted plant for that long to verify ID.

The closest species in appearance may be our native Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), and unless you planted one in this area, a volunteer of that species would be fairly unlikely. (Its leaf attachment to the stem, at least near the ends where flowers would form, is also a bit different than for Japanese Honeysuckle.) Pages 22-23 of the publication "Mistaken Identify? Invasive Plants and their Native Look-alikes" will help distinguish between the two. (A PDF viewer might show the page numbers as 26-27 instead for some reason.)

Miri
That makes perfect sense. I’m going to pull them and replace with native plants. Thanks for the excellent reference on look-alikes.

Janice
The Question Asker Replied May 09, 2024, 5:56 PM EDT

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