Family, Honeysuckle. Color, white. Calyx, 5-toothed. Corolla, 5-lobed. Stamens, 5. Stigmas, 3. Flowers, like those of the garden hydrangea, arranged in flat cymes, those around the border neutral, without stamens pistils, with large, flat corollas. Fruit, a crimson drupe, becoming darker when ripe. The winter leaf-buds are without covering. Leaves, opposite, nearly orbicular, serrate, pinnately veined, slightly heart-shape at base, pointed at apex, with short petioles unevenly divided by the midrib, rusty-scurfy along the veins underneath.

A shrub, reaching the height of 10 feet, with purplish bark. Found in cold, wet woods, from New England to North Carolina, where it ascends into the mountains. The lower, drooping branches often take root, making loops to trip up the careless pedestrian.