Shrubs, deciduous, to 4 m tall. Winter buds ovoid-lanceolate, with several pairs of scales; outer scales triangular, sparsely puberulent; inner scales accrescent, lanceolate, densely pubescent and white long ciliate outside. Branches with pith becoming brown and later hollow. Branches and petioles spreading pubescent with interspersed minute glands. Petiole 4-10 mm; leaf blade ovate to rhombic or oblong to lanceolate, 3-10 × 1-5 cm, abaxially densely strigose to villous or sparsely pubescent, adaxially sparsely pubescent or subglabrous, base cuneate to rounded, margin ciliate, apex rounded or acute to acuminate or caudate. Inflorescences fragrant, axillary paired flowers; peduncle 1.5-3 cm; bracts linear or narrowly linear-lanceolate, 2.5-8 mm, often exceeding ovaries; bracteoles of each flower fused or separate, ovate to suborbicular, ca. 1 mm, long ciliate. Neighboring 2 ovaries free, ± glandular, glabrous or densely hairy. Calyx lobes ovate, with rounded apex, ciliate and glandular, sometimes with a collarlike emergence at base. Corolla bilabiate, white at first, later yellow, sometimes tinged orange-red, 1-1.5 cm, outside sparsely to densely hairy; tube 2-5 mm, pubescent inside, deeply or sometimes inconspicuously gibbous toward base; upper lip shallowly 4-lobed; lower lip recurved. Stamens and style exserted from corolla tube; filaments densely hairy below middle; connectives sometimes pubescent; style hairy throughout. Berries red, orbicular, ca. 5 mm in diam.; seeds brown-red, ellipsoid, ca. 3 mm, with minute concave dots and sometimes with red glands. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 18.

Lonicera chrysantha is from the L. xylosteum species complex and is the only species in the complex occurring in China. Lonicera xylosteum Linnaeus occurs in Europe and Russia; further studies are necessary to better understand the relationships within this complex.

Forests, scrub at forest margins; 200-3000(-3800) m. Anhui, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, S Heilongjiang, W Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, E Jilin, S Liaoning, S Nei Mongol, Ningxia, E Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, N Korea, Mongolia, Russia; Europe].