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| Wisteria floribunda (Willd.) DC. | ||||||||||||||||||
Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) is a woody liana of the Wisteria family. It was brought from Japan to the United States in 1860 by George Rogers Hall. Since then, it has become one of the most highly romanticized flowering garden plants. It is also a common subject for bonsai, along with Wisteria sinensis(Chinese wisteria)
The flowering habit of Japanese wisteria is perhaps the most spectacular of the Wisteria family. It sports the longest flower racemes 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. The flowers carry a distinctive fragrance similar to that of grapes. The early flowering time of Japanese wisteria can cause problems in temperate climates, where early frosts can destroy the coming years' flowers. It will also flower only after passing from juvenile to adult 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-twining stems. The foliage consists of shiny, dark-green, pinnately compound leaves 10-30cm in length. The leaves bear 9-13 oblong leaflets that are each 2-6 cm long. It also bears numerous poisonous, brown, velvety, bean-like seed pods 5-10cm long that mature in summer and persist until winter. Japanese wisteria prefers moist soils and full sun in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-9[1]. The plant often lives over fifty years.
W. floribunda cultivars
- 'Alba' - white flowers
- 'Carnea' - flesh-pink flowers
- 'Issai Perfect' - white flowers, produced while the plant is still young
- 'Ivory Tower' - white flowers, fragrant and numerous
- 'Lawrence' - blue flowers, hardy cultivar
- 'Longissima' - light purple flowers, clusters very long
- 'Longissima Alba' - white flowers in clusters a half-meter long
- 'Macrobotrys' - reddish-violet flower clusters one meter or longer
- 'Macrobotrys Cascade' - white and pinkish-purple flowers, vigorous grower
- 'Plena' - double blue flowers in dense clusters
- 'Praecox' - blue-purple flowers, dwarf variety
- 'Purpurea' - purple flowers
- 'Rosea' - pale rose flowers tipped purple, 18 inches long
- 'Royal Purple' - purple flowers
- 'Rubra'- deep pink to red flowers
- 'Snow Showers' - white flowers with a lilac tinge
- 'Texas Purple' - purple flowers, produced while the plant is still young
- 'Violacea Plena' - double violet flowers, rosette-shaped
External links
- Japanese Wisteria at MSU
- Japanese Wisteria as a pest
- University of Ohio fact sheet for Wisteria family
- http://database.dotflowers.com/item-japanese-wisteria.html
