Plant Encyclopedia
Lonicera gracilipes var. glabra ("Uguisukagura")
Japanese name: ウグイスカグラ (鶯神楽)
Scientific name: Lonicera gracilipes var. glabra
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub that prefers sunny places in hills and mountains.
The bark is grayish brown, splits lengthwise and peels off.
Young branches are solid with white pith.
Leaves are simple and opposite, broadly elliptic to obovate, 3–8 cm long and 1.5–5 cm wide, usually hairless on both surfaces, greenish white on the underside, with entire margins.
There are 4–5 pairs of lateral veins.
The flowers open before the leaves or at the same time as they unfold, and are borne facing downward, 1–2 at a time in the leaf axils at the branch tips, with 1–2 bracts at the base.
The flowers are funnel-shaped, 1–2 cm long, 5-lobed at the tip, and pale pink.
The fruit is an elliptic berry 1–1.5 cm in diameter that ripens red and is sweet and edible.
It resembles Yama-uguisukagura and Miyama-uguisukagura, but can be distinguished by being hairless overall, apart from occasional hairs on the margins of the leaves and bracts.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed, by cuttings, or by division.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained place.
Cultivation is easy.
Details
Translated from our Japanese encyclopedia. If anything differs, the Japanese page is correct.
