This is the last of the Tiny Flowers posts. Check the recent posts at the right for links to the earlier ones. The term ‘flowers’ is actually not correct this time. What I found in hunting for 1/4″ flowers was a berry of that size. It deserved to be in the spotlight with its translucent orange skin.
Tatarian Honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica) is a shrub found in most of Canada and the U.S. except for the south eastern states. It is not native according to the USDA. The plant is native to eastern Asia and was first introduced into North America as an ornamental in 1752. It is classified as noxious and invasive in several regions.
My two photos were taken from about 2″ away using the super-macro setting with no flash.
With leaf structure | Marc Banks | Flickr
Our View From Iowa 
Reblogged this on JAR Blog… and commented:
Last one of the Tiny series…
It looks absolutely luscious. I love anything orange, and this certainly sets my taste buds all atingle. The fact that the birds haven’t stripped it is an indication it might not be so good to eat, but I didn’t check that.
Anyway, I was interested to see it called “Tatarian.” My memory of the Tatars’ history was a little sketchy, so I enjoyed refreshing that a bit.
We’ve got an invasive from Asia called trifoliate orange. It makes great security hedges, as the thorns are big and deadly. They use the hedges at the university of Oklahoma. Nothing eats those fruits, either. Here’s a pic from my local nature preserve from last fall.
Those are wicked looking thorns. Our locust trees have thorns. One tiny prick on the finger raises a welt that is very tender for two weeks.
I tasted one of those colorful berries once. It was not sweet. I didn’t think it would go well in a jam. Maybe LOTS of sugar or other sweet berries would help.
Certainly worthy of having a post of its own…live the color and translucent qualities.
Thanks. The orange on green is striking.
This is considered an invasive pest here along with Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) which has a stranglehold on a lot of woodland shrubs and also has orange berries although not quite as succulent and tempting as the Honeysuckle’s.
Yes. The one link I had showed it was a pest in most areas. Many of them haven’t officially designated it as such, I’m guessing.