Lonicera involucrata

Pairs of small yellow flowers are enclosed in large bracts which are outstanding when they turn red as the shiny twin fruits ripen to glossy black; low-med shrub from damp areas in mountains. S/M

A deciduous shrub, 6' - 8' tall. Native to the California coast. It has formal looking dark green foliage. In spring, this shrub produces pairs of small, tubular yellow flowers. It is even showier when it produces two bright black berries surrounded by red bracts. It has the appearance of two dark eggs in a little red nest. The bitter berries are edible. Birds love the fruit for food and flowers for nectar. Orange-red flowers appear from March to July. Ranges from southern Alaska south to Mexico from lowlands to high elevations. Nectar source for butterflies and for hummingbirds. Leaves used by the Navajo people as a ceremonial emetic. Found in coastal, moist, open sites, such as wetlands and riparian areas and is also found in the forest understory. Communitites located in Red Fir, Lodgepole, Subalpine Forest, Coastal Strand, Closed-cone Pine Forest, Wetland-riparian Between 0 and 10,800 feet .

One of our loveliest western natives, happy in northwest gardens. Deciduous shrub, to 5' tall x up to 10' wide (easily kept smaller), flowering from spring to early summer, the yellow, honeysuckle flowers turning to dark purple-black berries set off by red bracts. Hummingbird magnet that tolerates sun to partial shade and moist to well-drained, droughty soil. Frost hardy in USDA zone 6.