Is Trumpet Vine & Honeysuckle the Same Plant?

Gardeners may be plagued by overly aggressive or hard-to-eradicate flowering vines. Two such pesky plants in the United States are the trumpet vine and the Japanese honeysuckle. They are distinct species with different features, but may be confused with other plants.

Types

Trumpet vine, or trumpet creeper, refers to plants in the genus Campsis. In the United States, Campsis radicans widely grows. Honeysuckle vines belong to the genus Lonicera. A noxious weedy species is the Japanese honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica. An American native honeysuckle vine also adorns gardens, the trumpet honeysuckle, known botanically as Lonicera sempervirens.

Misconceptions

Common or colloquial names for these two groups of flowering vines can cause confusion. Names like trumpet vine, trumpet creeper, trumpet honeysuckle and honeysuckle vine may all refer to the same plant in a region or carry specific association to only one plant.

Features

Vines in both Campsis and Lonicera genus designations produce long, tubular flowers that are "trumpet-like." Trumpet vines (Campsis) produce funnel or trumpet-like flowers with five short, uniform lobes. Honeysuckles (Lonicera) flowers have two lips and five curling lobes, often with whisker-like anthers protruding from the flower tubes.