Because it winds its long wild stems around the branch, honeysuckle reminded the Victorians of the bonds of love, as if it said to the object of love, “Let me bind you—be my captive.”
In the tropics, this fast-growing flowering vine can cover a fence in a week, transforming it into a fragrant, bushy wall. The honeysuckle’s scent is the epitome of June. Broken from its stem, the trumpetlike petal bears a drop of sugary transparent liquid, which one may touch to the tongue.
Shakespeare called them woodbine. The honeysuckle’s botanical name is caprifolium, meaning goat flower. As goats were famous as lusty creatures, perhaps this name suggests that honeysuckle has aphrodisiac properties.
