The flower buds of five Lonicera species, Lonicera japonica Thunb., L. macranthoides Hand.-Mazz., L. hypoglauca Miq., L. confusa DC. and L. fulvotomentosa Hsu et S.C. Cheng are confusable and usually utilized under the same name “Jinyinhua” in different areas for morphological similarity. Studies found that these five species possess extreme differences in chemical compounds, correspondingly showing different pharmacological activities and clinical applications. To ensure efficacy and safety of these herbal medicines and prevent unknown adverse effect, in this work, a simple, rapid and effective method combining normal light and fluorescence microscopy was developed for authentication. Surface slides and transverse sections of these buds were investigated to reveal their differences. As a routine technique, normal light microscopy which gives detailed microscopic features such as glandular hairs and nonglandular hairs, can easily distinguish four species except L. confusa. Fluorescence technique, which could present different distribution of fluorescence materials, is further employed to identify three species including L. confusa successfully. It is the first report to identify these five Lonicera species by combining normal light and fluorescence microscopy. This work indicated combining normal light and fluorescence microscopy could be a powerful method in authentication of confused species. Microsc. Res. Tech.74:133-141, 2011. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.