Black Twinberry
Black twinberry is a deciduous shrub in the honeysuckle family.
- Black twinberry (Lonicera involucrata sp.) is a shrub that grows between 0.5m and 4.5m.
- It is mostly found in moist soils, and often on lakeshores, the edges of marshes, ditches. and streams.
- The leaves are on short stems and in opposite pairs. They are pointed and broadly lanceolate. They can be glabrous and are sometimes hairy underneath.
- Pairs of tubular yellow leaves are cupped by thicker bracts.
- All photos taken by the author. Click an image for a lightbox view.
- After flowering, twin black shiny berries form and reddish, darkening to purple bracts enlarge behind the berries.
- The berries are not considered edible.
- We see them throughout the forests on the Interior Plateau, where small lakes, ponds, and marshes are numerous, and sometimes in the lower valleys where flooding keeps the ground wet throughout the dry months.
- Other names for this shrub include bearberry honeysuckle and twinberry honeysuckle, and some variations on these tags.