''Lonicera fragrantissima'' is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family

Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species in 33 to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and easte ...

, known by the common names winter-flowering honeysuckle, fragrant honeysuckle, kiss-me-at-the-gate, and sweet breath of spring. It is native to China and has been an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

to other parts of the world. It was brought to the attention of western gardeners by Scottish plant hunter

Robert Fortune Robert Fortune (16 September 1812 – 13 April 1880) was a Scottish botanist, plant hunter and traveller, best known for introducing around 250 new ornamental plants, mainly from China, but also Japan, into the gardens of Britain, Australia, an ...

, who was plant hunting in China for the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

. Fortune introduced ''Lonicera fragrantissima'' to England in 1845, and a few years later it was introduced to the United States. In 1853 the editor of American gardening magazine ''The Horticulturist'' wrote that the previous year he had been sent a specimen from a plant that had been flowering in the gardens of

Hatfield House Hatfield House is a Grade I listed English country house, country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean architecture, Jacobean hous ...

, the Marquess of Salisbury's stately home in Hertfordshire. The first mention of a specimen for commercial sale in an American plant catalogue is in 1860. The honeysuckle is used as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

for its fragrant flowers. In some parts of the world, where conditions are right, when it moves out of cultivation and takes hold in the wild, it can become an invasive weed.Munger, Gregory T. (2005)
''Lonicera'' spp.
In: Fire Effects Information System, nline U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Retrieved January 18, 2012. This

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or Vine#Twining vines, twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae. The genus includes 158 species native to northern latitudes in North America, Eurasia, and North Africa. Widely kno ...

, a species of "bush honeysuckle", is a

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

usually growing tall, sometimes reaching a maximum height around . When mature it is a bushy tangle of slender, spreading branches. The leaves are up to long by wide. The flowers, borne in pairs, are each about long. They are white to "creamy white" in color.''Lonicera fragrantissima''.
Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved January 18, 2012. They are very fragrant, with a "lemony" scent. The fruit is a red

berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

up to a centimeter wide. The seeds are dispersed by animals that eat the fruits. The seeds must be

stratified Stratification may refer to: Mathematics * Stratification (mathematics), any consistent assignment of numbers to predicate symbols * Data stratification in statistics Earth sciences * Stable and unstable stratification * Stratification, or st ...

before they will

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

. This plant, considered a "harbinger of spring", is grown for ornamental purposes and as a

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced (3 feet or closer) shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate ...

. It can be found growing in parts of the eastern United States from

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to the southeastern states where it is an introduced species. It has also been observed in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q159652 fragrantissima Flora of China