The Chinese twining Honeysuckle (L. flexuosa) is certainly one of the finest of the genus. In the form of the leaf it much resembles the common Woodbine; but the foliage is much darker colored, and is also sub-evergreen, hanging on half the winter, and in sheltered spots, even till spring. It blossoms when the plant is old, several times during the summer, bearing an abundance of beautiful flowers, open at the mouth, red outside, and striped with red, white, or yellow within. It grows remarkably fast, climbing to the very summit of trees in a short time; and the flowers, which first appear in June, are deliciously fragrant. In all its varieties the Honeysuckle is a charming plant, either to adorn the porch of the cottage, the latticed bower of the garden-to both of which spots they are especially dedicated-or to climb the stem of the old forest tree, where- "With clasping tendrils it invests the branch, Else unadorn'd, with many agay festoon, And fragrant chaplet; recompensing well The strength it borrows with the grace it lends." There it diffuses through the air a delicious breath, that renders a walk beneath the shade of the tall trees doubly delightful, while its flowers give a gaiety and brightness to the park, which forest trees, producing usually but inconspicuous blossoms, could not alone impart.
