Can a honeysuckle vine grow like a tree?

biwa

There's a honeysuckle vine that grows everywhere where I live. I'm pretty sure it's lonicera japonica. It has yellow flowers and white flowers that don't appear until the 2nd year of growth. Yesterday I went hiking and saw several small trees with the same yellow flowers and white flowers. Though there were plenty of honeysuckle vines growing around the trees, it wasn't like a vine had merely strangled a tree to death and used it as a trellis. The honeysuckle flowers were growing directly from the branches of the tree. The trees stood about 6 or 7 feet tall and had a trunk diameter of 1.5 to 2 inches.

The only difference I could find between the tree and the vine besides the obvious fact that one stood up all by itself and the other required support was the leaves. The leaves of the vine looked diseased and unhealthy, whereas the leaves of the tree were healthy looking and had pointed tips. The vine's leaves looked a little more oval shaped to me.

Is the tree a different plant than the vine? Or is the tree just what happens when a honeysuckle vine gets very old?

bcomplx · New Member Joined: 05 May 2008 Posts: 24 Location: SW Va

Do you think you may have been looking at a native azalea, like a pale form of a flame azalea? They're in full bloom here, and the blossoms do resemble those of Japanese honeysuckle, and they often show up in similar places, in open areas along the edges of woods.
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bcomplx · New Member Joined: 05 May 2008 Posts: 24 Location: SW Va

Well, I hope you're not insulted that I suggested you mistook a honeysuckle for an azalea! Yesterday I think I saw the plant you're describing, growing in a low, damp place. I could be wrong again, but I think it's amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), another Asian invasive like Japonica, only this one a dense shrub.
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biwa · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject:

I Googled lonicera maackii and it looks a lot like what I saw. Thanks for helping me identify it. I was worried I was going crazy when I saw a vine stand up all by itself and become a tree.