Morrow's honeysuckle

Students found the species along the side of trail just into the woods while walking to another site where I had seen the plant several weeks earlier. One of the youngest students accurately identified the red berries of Morrow's honeysuckle. We took a few minutes to discuss a few of the characteristics of the plant, including the color of the leaves, which there was some debate over. The species ID card described the leaves as blue-green, and we were only able to come to a concensus when we compared the leaf to that of another plant nearby, whose leaves looked yellower in comparison. The students and I both learned about the difference between toothed and smooth-edged leaves, identifying whether leaves are opposite or alternate on the stem, and that these leaves are hairy on the bottom. We also discovered that the species does have pairs of red-orange berries - again, the color was up for debate, but not the pairings. The deciding factor that we had discovered the Morrow's honeysuckle and not the native Maine honeysuckle was when we cut a stem open and discovered it was hollow. The students were very proud of their discovery!