Bushy shrub to ID (honeysuckle under aphid attack)

[MarcP]

I don't usually ask about shrubs but since this is growing amongst a lot of flowers by the creek and since it has rather odd leaves (are those leaves or flowers?), I'd like to know what it is. As soon as I posted this, I noted the red berries in the second picture. For a minute, I thought those smaller leaves were from a different plant, but you can see the reddish leaves on those, too.

[rainbowgardener]

The reddish stems and the leaves that go with them in the bottom two pictures, look a lot like Japanese honeysuckle vine, which can look pretty shrubby:


http://extension.entm.purdue.edu/CAPS/p ... suckle.jpg


http://images.quickblogcast.com/3/4/5/5 ... e.JPG?a=28


but the flowers don't look very much like it at all, so I could be totally off base:


http://www.carolinanature.com/trees/loja140100.jpg

[Mr_bobo_]

By leaves its similar like Lonicera, but I never see Lonicera with that kind of flowers...
...maybe its from same family, but I can't agree that's Lonicera...

[MarcP]

Really, Rainbow? I have Japanese honeysuckle next to the house. Those smaller, kind of oval leaves on this plant look like it but it doesn't have any of that red stuff that looks like some kind of cabbage cole slaw. Also, I've been following it closely and no honeysuckle flowers whereas the honeysuckle at the house has come and gone.

[purpleinopp]

Maybe it has some kind of disease, can Lonicera get aster yellows?

[rainbowgardener]

By leaves its similar like Lonicera, but I never see Lonicera with that kind of flowers...
...maybe its from same family, but I can't agree that's Lonicera...

exactly what I said, and I came to the same conclusion, probably not the J. honeysuckle.

[MarcP]

"exactly what I said, and I came to the same conclusion, probably not the J. honeysuckle."

I'm sorry, Rainbow, I overlooked your last sentence. I'm going back down there today to get more pictures. There is another bush just like it on the opposite side of the road but it's surrounded by poison ivy so I can't get very close.

[!potatoes!]

i think it does look like j. honeysuckle. that feathery growth seems like deformed leaves...

[rainbowgardener]

hmmm... interesting. you and purple could be on to something!

[MarcP]

i think it does look like j. honeysuckle. that feathery growth seems like deformed leaves...

Are you calling my honeysuckle deformed? Well, I never!

I'm going back, later this morning, for a better look and more pictures.

[MarcP]

As I was posting this new photo I noticed how the leaves are folding over (which is never a good sign) so I did another search and this is what I now think it is: Hyadaphis tataricae. An aphid that attacks honeysuckle! You were right. It IS honeysuckle and it IS diseased! You people are so smart!



The link below shows a honeysuckle that looks very much like mine.
http://www.inaturalist.org/photos/161658

UPDATE: I just went back and pried open a couple of the leaves and sure enough, little black eggs.

[MarcP]

One more bit of trivia, the leaf deformity caused by the aphid is called "Witches' broom". It's most obvious in the first photo.

[purpleinopp]

Thanks for the follow-up! Not good but fascinating.

[rainbowgardener]

Should have recognized it, I've seen witches broom malformation before, but not on honeysuckle. My asparagus got it one year, also carried by a bug.

I'm glad to here that there is some insect and disease that actually bothers the J. honeysuckle, since it is one of those invasive exotics.

[purpleinopp]

Yes, it looks like the Japanese one.

As a ubiquitous vector of possible transmission to desirable plants, probably not a good thing in the big picture. That's what I was thinking, I really don't know...