This attractive woody honeysuckle is flowering in our National Collection of woody Lonicera.
Comprising 180 species of shrubs and climbers the genus Lonicera occurs in woody and rocky locations throughout the northern hemisphere. The climbing species are the more familiar, but the shrubby species display great diversity in flowering time, flower and form. The genus is named after the 16th century German naturalist Lonizer, and as the specific name suggests, L. pyrenaica is native to the Pyrenees, but also occurs in the mountains of north-eastern Spain and on the Balearic Islands. Reaching 1.5m this is an easy shrub to cultivate. The pointed leaves are glaucous (covered in fine down), and the rose-tinted white flowers, which emerge in April and May, sit in a pair of bracts in the leaf axils.