A deciduous shrub of dense, compact, rounded habit, 3 or 4 ft high; shoots downy when quite young. Leaves oval or ovate, 1⁄3 to 1 in. long, about 1⁄4 in. wide, dark green above, rather glaucous beneath, glabrous on both surfaces, margins decurved. Flowers pinkish white, fragrant, borne in very shortly stalked pairs; corolla between tubular and bell-shaped, 1⁄4 in. long, glabrous outside, hairy at the mouth inside; lobes equal, spreading; style much shorter than the tube, glabrous; bracts linear, 1⁄6 to 1⁄4 in. long. Fruits orange-red, 1⁄4 in. wide.
Native of the Himalaya and Afghanistan. It forms a neat, pleasing bush, but our climate is too dull for it to flower sufficiently freely to produce any effect. It is one of the bush honeysuckles which are distinguished by a very short style and a tubular, regularly lobed corolla, hairy at the mouth inside. From the others of this group here mentioned it is distinguished by its stiff branches and small leaves, and from all except L. angustifolia by the two-celled ovary. Blossoms in May.
var. depressa (Royle) Rehd. L. depressa Royle – Differs from the above only by the flower-stalks being twice as long, and the broader, oval bracts.