Lonicera × tellmanniana Spaeth

This is a hybrid between L. tragophylla and L. sempervirens ‘Superba’ raised in the Royal Hungarian Horticultural School, Budapest, from which institution it was acquired and, in 1927, put into commerce by Messrs Späth of Berlin. It was first seen in flower in London on 16 June 1931, when Sir William Lawrence showed it at Westminster from his garden at Burford, near Dorking. It was then given an Award of Merit. It is one of the most successful results in the hybridisation of honeysuckles that has been achieved, uniting in itself as it does perhaps the showiest of Chinese species and not far from the most beautiful of American ones. It is a deciduous climber with elliptical-ovate leaves 2 to 31⁄2 in. long, the upper pair united by their bases and forming a collar round the stem. The slender-tubed flowers are borne in terminal heads of six to twelve, each bloom about 2 in. long and measuring about 1 in. across the two lips of the corolla, which is of a beautiful yellow, flushed in the bud state and at the tips with bronzy red. In habit it is luxuriant and is hardy, a quality it inherits from L. tragophylla. Like all this class of honeysuckle, it likes a good soil and prefers to have its roots and lower branches in the shade.