My neighbor a little ways down the road and across the street, asked me if I could identify a little bush growing underneath a young spruce tree next to their driveway. I had never seen this plant before, but it had some similarity to a honeysuckle, which grow wild around here. I guessed that it MIGHT be some kind of Honeysuckle. When it bloomed a few weeks later, the twin pale yellowish flowers and hairy leaves and twigs narrowed it down to Mountain Fly Honeysuckle. the small oblong blue berries that later developed didn't taste good. A few years later, about 3 blocks away I spotted a five foot tall one of these, growing in a tall hedge of Tartarian Honeysuckle. Those two are the only ones that I've ever seen.

There is a nicely fruiting shrub of this species growing alongside the road adjacent to a bog just north of Grand Rapids. The bog itself is nutrient-poor, but more nutrient-loving plants grow on the slightly elevated roadside. I once had three cultivated honeyberry (Lonicera caerula) bushes and it would be hard to tell them apart from this wild species. If people are seeing them in (sub)urban settings, they’re probably planted honeyberries?

If the taxonomy is confusing with Lonicera villosa and Lonicera caerulea, could that imply that they are both the same species or that they can cross easily? If so, is Lonicera villosa just the wild form of lonicera caerulea? Both are edible, so it would make sense. If so, wouldn't that make it all Native regardless of what Species name is used? It's Native range is huge! Based on the Phylogenic Trees I looked at, Lonicera villosa doesn't get Mentioned/Distinguished separately from Lonicera caerulea.

John, we just report the taxonomy accepted in Minnesota. It is not unusual for some botanists to lump species or vars together and others to split them into separate species. A geneticist might be able to give a definitive answer but we don't have that level of skill or knowledge.

So... continue Planting Honeyberries (Lonicera caerulea) along with Lonicera villosa, Since both are still Native right? Because in the trunk photo, you mentioned the possible non native lonicera caerulea? That's why I got confused, how can one be Native but not the other?

John, L. caerulea is not considered native here.

My neighbor with the Mountain Fly Honeysuckle growing under her small spruce tree next to the driveway, bought several Honeyberry bushes last year and planted them in her berry garden. They apparently pollinated the wild Honeysuckle this year. It's just loaded with small elongated football shaped blue berries. In previous years, she never tasted the few wild berries it produced , but now having tasted the Honeyberries and then tasting the wild version, the wild ones were SO EXTREMELY BITTER that she spit them out. It's a wild area of town where many yards are 1/2 acre and forested.