Lonicera fragrantissima Lindl. & Paxton - Caprifoliaceae - winter honeysuckle, fragrant honeysuckle, Wohlriechende Heckenkirsche, Duft-Heckenkirsche, Winter-Geißblatt
Stiff-branched, deciduous shrub, 1-2m tall, nativ to China; flowers extremely fragrant, creamy white.
Leaves ovate, 1-4.5 cm wide (var. fragrantissima) to lanceolate, 1-2 cm wide (var. lancifolia). http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200022308
„GC and GC-MS analyses of two diethyl ether extracts of Lonicera fragrantissima flowers (extraction times 1 and 20 days) enabled the identification of 61 components that represented ca. 90% of the extract volatiles. 10-Nonacosanol (18.1-24.1%), nonacosane (14.4-15.0%) and the rather rare long-chained fatty acid hexyl esters (octadecanoate, eicosanoate, docosanoate, tetracosanoate, hexacosanoate, octacosanoate and triacontanoate, in total 19.1-19.5%) were among the main constituents of both extracts. However, a number of differences were observed in the chemical composition of the 1 and 20 day extracts, the relative percentage of the iridoid loganetin being the most striking (19.1 and 2.1%, respectively).“
[Composition of diethyl ether flower extracts of Lonicera fragrantissima Lindl. & Paxton (caprifoliaceae)., Radulović, N., Blagojević, P., Palić, R., Natural product communications, Vol.4(11), 2009, 1581-1584]
Addisonia, vol. 10: t. 341 (1925) [M.E. Eaton]
http://plantgenera.org/species.php?id_species=618533
Lonicera fragrantissima
© Rolf Marschner (2009),
www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at