Medium to large shrub, up to 15 ft tall, much branching. Leaves opposite each other, long oval with a long-pointed tip, somewhat hairy on the undersurface. It is often one of the first shrubs to leaf out in spring and holds its leaves into the winter. Flowers are white, turning yellow, fragrant, and tubular with two lips at the end; a larger lip points up and an narrower one points down. The upper lip has four lobes. Flowers are in pairs with very short or no flowerstalks. Blooms in mid spring. Fruits are clustered berries that turn from green to purple to bright red in the fall and persist into the winter. Leaves are dropped late in the fall.

Invasive exotic. In Wildwood occasional on both slopes, more toward the tops.

Morrow honeysuckle ( L. morrowii) has more oblong leaves, blooms later, fruits earlier, and has orange to red berries. Japanese honeysuckle (L. japonica) is a vine with somewhat different flowers and black berries. Bella honeysuckle (L. x bella) has pink flowers.