There’s a stranger in the woods. Well, maybe not if you are a Midwestern woodland newcomer. But, for those of us who have been woods walkers for more than fifteen or twenty years, the newcomer is a blatantly obvious and unwelcome visitor.

The visitor appears to be here to stay, and worse has invited several million more of its progeny. This visitor means bad business. The visitor has a name, as do all its close cousins. In our area, the insidious visitor is the shrub Bush Honeysuckle, also known as Amur Honeysuckle or Red Rem Honeysuckle. Of course, like most villains, it’s common name is an alias. Pro’s know the woody plant as Lonicera mackii. Common names of its shrub cousins found in woodlands in other US areas include European Fly, Bella, Tartarian, and Morrow Honeysuckles. Like Fat Freddie’s cockroaches, their sordid family is broad and extended; why the rascals even hybridize among themselves! Our innocuous native bush-honeysuckle shrub’s (Diervilla lonicera) reputation has been ruined.

So why the bad rap? Is an introduced woodland plant undesirable simply by its non-indigenous status? Nature’s way is uncannily best; introduced woodland plants can play havoc on our delicate upland central hardwood forest ecosystem. Good examples abound, and forest ecologists readily cite a litany of wild flower displacement horror tales thanks to introduced Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata). Foresters, however, see the forest for the trees, and thus view Bush Honeysuckle as even more despicable than Garlic Mustard.

Midwestern forest tree species fall into three categories. Some tree species such as sugar maple, beech, hickories and others can tolerate shade. Other tree species need full sunlight and include tulip tree, walnut, the oaks and ashes. A third category is halfway in between with the seedlings and juvenile saplings tolerating shade, but then requiring sunlight as maturity is attained. Herein lies Bush Honeysuckle’s subtle but menacing threat. You see, Bush Honeysuckle thrives in the shade of a forest. When the forest canopy is broken and light becomes available, the oaks, ashes, walnut and tulip trees that usually germinate and fill a woodland void never materialize due to the shade cast by Bush Honeysuckle. Just that simple. Some folks might state: “So what – other trees will fill the void”. While that naïve statement is true, it is diversity that allows for beneficial ecological chains to be manifested. The oaks are valuable trees from a lumber standpoint, and significant mast (nut) providers for wildlife. Tulip Poplar is a rapid growing magnolia that is an important pioneer species and incidentally promotes height growth of adjacent competing trees. Black Walnut is one of the Midwest’s “blue ribbon” species accounting for extreme woodland value. Many woody shrub species and herbaceous species are also weakened or wholly displaced by Bush Honeysuckle.

Amur Honeysuckle was introduced from eastern Asia into the US in the late 1800’s. Of sad note is the fact that our federal USDA and most state conservation agencies actively promoted the planting of Bush Honeysuckle. Until recently, Bush Honeysuckle was produced for resale at many tax subsidized state nurseries. Fine examples of Honeysuckle plantings (and equally obnoxious Autumn Olive) at 100% taxpayer expense can be found along Interstate 70 from the Ohio to the Illinois state lines. Pandora’s Amur Bush Honeysuckle Box has now been fully opened, and there remains little sense in pointing fingers.

Amur Bush Honeysuckle is extremely easy to identify, but unfortunately rather difficult to control. Herbicide treatments are reasonably effective, but costly, laborious and less than environmentally ideal. Simply cutting the bushes down does little, as the entire root system must also be removed. Indeed, once again Pogo reigns mighty stating “we have met the enemy, and he is us”.

Bob Mayer is a consulting forester offering traditional forest management services, in addition to forest product industry production and profitability analysis.

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