The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade consisting of about 800 dicotyledonous flowering plants, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution; centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and eastern Asia, while they are absent in tropical and southern Africa.

They are mostly shrubs and vines, rarely herbs, including some ornamental garden plants in temperate regions. The leaves are mostly opposite with no stipules (appendages at the base of a leafstalk or petiole), and may be either evergreen or deciduous. The flowers are tubular funnel-shaped or bell-like, usually with five outward spreading lobes or points, and are often fragrant. They usually form a small calyx with small bracts. The fruit is in most cases a berry or a drupe. The genera Diervilla and Weigela have capsular fruit.

Taxonomy

Views of the family-level classification of the traditionally accepted Caprifoliaceae and other plants in the botanical order Dipsacales has been considerably revised in recent decades. Most botanists now accept the placement of two of the most familiar members of this group, the elderberry (Sambucus) and the viburnums Viburnum, in the family Adoxaceae instead, along with some other genera related to them, these were formerly classified in the Caprifoliaceae.

Several other families of the more broadly treated Caprifoliaceae are separated by some but not all authors; these are included in the listing below of an evolutionary classification of the Dipsacales^{[citation needed]}, along with estimated numbers of species for each genus.

Adoxaceae

• Adoxa: 1 species
• Sambucus (Elderberry): 5-30 species
• Viburnum (Viburnum): 150-175 species

Diervilleae

• Diervilla (Bush Honeysuckle): 3 species
• Weigela: 10 species.

Heptacodium [Family placement uncertain]

• Heptacodium (Seven-son Flower): 1 species

Caprifoliaceae [Viewed narrowly here]

• Leycesteria: 6 species
• Lonicera (Honeysuckle): 180 species
• Symphoricarpos (Snowberry): 17 species
• Triosteum (Horsegentian): 6 species

Linnaeaceae

• Abelia: 30 species
• Dipelta: 4 species
• Kolkwitzia (Beautybush): 1 species
• Linnaea (Twinflower): 1 species

Morinaceae

• Cryptothladia
• Morina

Dipsacaceae

• Acanthocalyx
• Pterocephalus
• Dipsacus
• Scabiosa

Triplostegia [Family placement uncertain]

• Triplostegia

Valerianaceae

• Patrina
• Nardostachys
• Centranthus
• Plectritis
• Valeriana
• Valerianella
• Fedia

The following genera are no longer included in the order Dipsacales in current classifications:

• Order Asterales (these genera regarded by some^{[citation needed]} as belonging to a separate family Alseuosmiaceae)
  • Alseuosmia: 8 species
  • Memecylanthus: 1 species
  • Periomphale: 2 species

• Order Lamiales (these genera regarded by some^{[citation needed]} as belonging to a separate family Carlemanniaceae)
  • Carlemannia: 3 species
  • Silvianthus: 2 species

Uses

The plants belonging to this family are mainly hardy ornamental shrubs or vines, many popular garden shrubs, especially Abelia, Lonicera, and Weigela. A few have become invasive weeds outside of their native ranges (such as Lonicera japonica).

References

• Flowering Plants of the World, 1987, Vernon H. Heywood, Andromeda Oxford Ltd., ISBN 90-5210-165-5
• Botanica, Gordon Cheers, Random House Australia, ISBN 3-8290-1953-X