Wisteria floribunda
Encyclopedia
Woody plant
A woody plant is a plant that uses wood as its structural tissue. These are typically perennial plants whose stems and larger roots are reinforced with wood produced adjacent to the vascular tissues. The main stem, larger branches, and roots of these plants are usually covered by a layer of...
liana
Liana
A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...
of the Wisteria
Wisteria
Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, that includes ten species of woody climbing vines native to the eastern United States and to China, Korea, and Japan. Aquarists refer to the species Hygrophila difformis, in the family Acanthaceae, as Water Wisteria...
family. It was brought from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1860 by George Rogers Hall. Since then, it has become one of the most highly romanticized flowering garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
plants. It is also a common subject for bonsai, along with Wisteria sinensis
Wisteria sinensis
Wisteria sinensis is a woody, deciduous, perennial climbing vine in the genus Wisteria, native to China in the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Yunnan...
(Chinese wisteria).
The flowering habit of Japanese wisteria is perhaps the most spectacular of the Wisteria family. It sports the longest flower raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
s of any wisteria; they can reach nearly half a meter in length. These racemes burst into great trails of clustered white, violet, or blue flowers in early- to mid-spring
Spring (season)
Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and broadly to ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and...
. The flowers carry a distinctive fragrance similar to that of grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s. The early flowering time of Japanese wisteria can cause problems in temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
climates, where early frost
Frost
Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...
s can destroy the coming years' flowers. It will also flower only after passing from juvenile
Juvenile (organism)
A juvenile is an individual organism that has not yet reached its adult form, sexual maturity or size. Juveniles sometimes look very different from the adult form, particularly in terms of their colour...
to adult
Adult
An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....
stage, a transition that may take many frustrating years just like its cousin Chinese Wisteria.
Japanese wisteria can grow over 30m long over many supports via powerful clockwise
Clockwise
Circular motion can occur in two possible directions. A clockwise motion is one that proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back to the top...
-twining stems. The foliage consists of shiny, dark-green, pinnate
Pinnate
Pinnate is a term used to describe feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis in plant or animal structures, and comes from the Latin word pinna meaning "feather", "wing", or "fin". A similar term is pectinate, which refers to a comb-like arrangement of parts...
ly compound leaves 10–30 cm in length. The leaves bear 9-13 oblong leaflet
Leaflet
A leaflet in botany is a part of a compound leaf. A leaflet may resemble an entire leaf, but it is not borne on a stem as a leaf is, but rather on a vein of the whole leaf. Compound leaves are common in many plant families...
s that are each 2–6 cm long. It also bears numerous poisonous, brown, velvety, bean-like seed pods 5–10 cm long that mature in summer and persist until winter. Japanese wisteria prefers moist soils and full sun in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-9. The plant often lives over fifty years.
W. floribunda cultivars
- 'Alba' - correct name is Shiro Noda - long white flower clusters
- 'Carnea' - correct name is Kuchibeni - pink flowers
- 'Honbeni' - pink flowers
- 'Issai Perfect' - light lavender flowers
- 'Ivory Tower' - correct name is W. sinensis Jako
- 'Kuchibeni' - pink flowers
- 'Lawrence' - blue flowers, hardy cultivarCultivarA cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
- 'Longissima' - correct name is macrobotrys - reddish-violet flower clusters one meter or longer
- 'Longissima Alba' - correct name is Shiro Noda - long white flower clusters
- 'Macrobotrys' - reddish-violet flower clusters one meter or longer
- 'Macrobotrys Cascade' - white and pinkish-purple flowers, vigorous grower
- 'Nana Richins Purple' - purple flowers
- 'Nishiki' - variegated foliage
- 'Plena' - correct name is Violaceae Plena - double blue flowers in dense clusters
- 'Praecox' - correct name is Domino - purple flowers
- 'Purpurea' - unknown - May be Wisteria sinensis consequa which is sometimes labeled purpurea
- 'Rosea' - correct name is Honbeni -pale rose flowers tipped purple, 18 inches long
- 'Royal Purple' - purple flowers
- 'Rubra'- unknown - may be Honbeni - sometimes labeled as Rubrum - deep pink to red flowers
- 'Shiro Noda' - long white flower clusters
- 'Snow Showers' - correct name is Shiro Noda - long white flower clusters
- 'Texas Purple' - may be a sinensis or a hybrid, short racemes, purple flowers, produced while the plant is still young
- 'Violacea Plena' - double violet flowers, rosetteRosette (design)A rosette is a round, stylized flower design, used extensively in sculptural objects from antiquity. Appearing in Mesopotamia and used to decorate the funeral stele in Ancient Greece...
-shaped - 'White with Blue Eye' - also known as Sekines Blue - very fragrant