[Literature study on species of honeysuckle flower].

Honeysuckle flower is a traditional herbal medicine in China Through systemically sorting and studying literature of Chinese medicine, this article pointed out that leech used by the traditional Chinese medicine in ancient time has the features of twist vine, slight purple stem with clothing hair; opposite growing leaves, ovule shape with clothing hair on both side; two flowers growing from one pedicel, labiate corolla with 3.2 cm longth, flower grows from white color to yellow color, each branch axil grows only one pedicel, the involucre is ovoid shape, and the flower season is from mid-March to mid-May. Among all species of caprifoliaceae, only Lonicera japonica Thunb. meets these botanic features. Therefore, L. japonica Thunb. should be used as the orthodox species of herbal honeysuckle flower.