In the forests of my childhood, invasive honeysuckle makes for a dense woody undergrowth that crowds out other plants of the forest floor. That is one way to explain the loss of chokecherry, serviceberry, inkberry, spicebush, and viburnum. Though another way to understand what is happening is that Missouri was logged three times over, then parceled out for monocropping by corporate agriculture, and honeysuckle is the kind of plant that is drawn to disturbed soil.
