About Lonicera subspicata Hook. & Arn.
Lonicera subspicata Hook. & Arn. is a plant that grows twining or reclining on shrubs, reaching 9 to 24 decimeters in length. Its foliage ranges from hairless to covered in fine short hairs. Leaves are typically 1 to 4 cm long, with leaf blade bases that are round or somewhat tapered, and leaf tips that are round or blunt. The upper pairs of leaves do not fuse around the stem. The inflorescence is a long, fuzzy spike of pale yellow flowers, each approximately one centimeter long. Flowers are divided into an upper and lower lip, with hairy stamens and a protruding style. The corolla measures 8 to 12 mm long, is pale yellow in color, and is often hairy. The fruit is a red or yellow berry around 8 mm in size.
This shrub grows from the San Francisco Bay Area and northern Sierra Nevada southward through the Coast Ranges, into the Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges that extend through Baja California. Its southernmost distribution reaches the Tres Vírgenes in Baja California Sur, and it can also be found on Cedros Island.
For the variety denudata, the fruit is reported to be edible. In cultivation, this species forms a drought-tolerant vining shrub that works well as cover for a low fence or the north side of a house. It will climb when given support, and is cold hardy to 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
