From the steppes of central Asia, this deciduous shrub has spread across roadsides, forest edges, and thickets from the eastern seaboard to the Great Plains, listed as a noxious weed in multiple states. It is among the first shrubs to leaf out in spring and among the last to drop its leaves in autumn, which gives it a substantial competitive edge over native understory plants trying to photosynthesize in the brief shoulder seasons. Dense, leggy thickets with hollow twigs cast shade that few native seedlings can survive beneath.

The pink spring flowers are fragrant in the way that honeysuckle should be, and the red berries attract birds, which is precisely how seeds travel so effectively. The Hummingbird moth uses it as a larval host. None of this offsets the ecological damage done by unchecked spread. Gardeners in the eastern and central United States would do better with native Lonicera sempervirens or shrub alternatives in Viburnum or Itea for comparable seasonal interest without the invasive risk.