Well this is weird I got a Forum email from Zoe @zplant with a tip but they no longer appear to be a user.
Google “苦糖果”. It’s said to be sweet but has a hint of bitterness. Maybe it should be bred and improved to be “heartberries.”
What kind of plant is bitter candy? (baidu.com)
Findings. Chinese the fruit translates to Bitter Candy, and it also called Croch berry,
Bitter candy is the official middle name, and this name comes from the “Names of the Plants of the Rahan Seeds”; The scientific name is recorded in some books as Lonicera standishii Carr., and in the previous Flora of China, it is recorded as L. fragrantissima Lindl.et Paxt.subsp.standishii (Carr)Hsu etH.J.Wang; In the latest “Flora of China”, it was revised to L. fragrantissima var. lancifolia (Rehder) Q.E. yang; In plant taxonomy, it belongs to the honeysuckle family, a variety of honeysuckle tulip.
First, the ripe fruit of bitter candy is edible. Its fruit belongs to the berry category, the sugar is sufficient, the juice is sweet and red, it has always been the wild fruit that quenches the thirst and hunger of people in the production area, can be eaten raw, and can also be processed to make juice, fruit wine, beverages and other foods.
Second, bitter candy has a high ornamental value. Its flowers are “conjoined babies”, the fruit is conjoined double rods, and the pedicle is combined, the shape is unique, the ornamental value is still high, its flowering period is early, can be planted in the square, lawn, courtyard ornamental; Its stump is an excellent material for making bonsai.
Thirdly, bitter candy has medicinal properties. Its young branches and leaves are called “big honeysuckle” in traditional Chinese medicine, which is sweet in taste, cold in nature, and has the effects of dispelling wind and dampness, clearing heat and relieving pain; The fruit has the effect of clearing heat, generating jin and quenching thirst; The fresh leaves of bitter candy contain 0.68% chlorogenic acid, which is a spectral antibacterial drug resource.
A “bitter candy” that looks like a crotch but tastes very sweet!?| Fruit Shell Technology is interesting (guokr.com)
When it comes to bitter candy, we have to talk about Lonicera fragrantissima, which is a small shrub of the genus Lonicera in the honeysuckle family, and the epithet means “fragrant”, and bitter candy is a subspecies of it, the scientific name is Lonicera fragrantissima subsp. standishii. The leaves of bitter candy are relatively narrow and long, and the petioles often have coarse hairs, while the leaves of tulip honeysuckle are more oval and the petioles are smooth, but other than that, there is not so much difference between the two, at least the flowers and fruits are extremely similar, if you are not a botanist, you really can’t tell them at a glance.
This wild fruit on the mountain, known as “bitter candy”, has a calcium content 24 times that of apples, so don’t miss the nutrition of fruits (sohu.com)
L. fragrantissima on the left L. caerulea right
