Wisteria
Wisteria are long-lived, deciduous, woody climbing vines that may reach a height of 60 to 70 feet or more. Chinese wisteria vines are brown-gray in color with fine
white hairs, while the Japanese wisteria vines are smooth and brown. Both can attain a diameter of 15 inches or more. The compound leaves alternate along the stem and have many leaflets (Japanese: up to 19, Chinese: up to 13). The flowers are showy, violetblue in color and occur in long drooping clusters.
(www.dcnr.state.pa.us)
Wisteria sinensis can grow 20–30 m long over supporting trees by counterclockwise-twining stems. The leaves are shiny, green, pinnately compound, 10–30 cm in length, with 9-13 oblong leaflets that are each 2–6 cm long. The flowers are white, violet, or blue, produced on 15–20 cm racemes in spring, usually reaching their peak in mid-May in the northern hemisphere. The flowers on each raceme open simultaneously before the foliage has expanded, and have a distinctive fragrance similar to that of grapes. Though it has shorter racemes than Wisteria floribunda (Japanese wisteria), it often has a higher quantity of racemes.
Japanese wisteria can grow over 30m long over many supports via powerful clockwise-twining stems. 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, pink, 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.
(Wikipedia)
Both Japanese and Chinese wisteria are showy, ornamental perennial lianas that commonly climb, twine, or trail on the ground. Chinese wisteria is also occasionally described as a shrub. Both species have been observed 65 feet (20 m) high in the canopy, and there are records of vines 70 feet (21 m) long. The species look similar to each other and can be difficult to distinguish because they hybridize. One way to differentiate the species is by examining the direction of vine twining; Chinese wisteria vines twine clockwise, while Japanese wisteria vines twine counter-clockwise.
Roots: One flora describes Chinese wisteria roots as few but "deeply penetrating".
Stems: Stems of older wisteria plants can grow 15 inches (38 cm) in diameter, and have infrequent, alternate branches.
Leaves: Compound leaves of wisterias are about 1 foot (0.3 m) in length and alternate along the stem. Japanese wisteria leaves consist of 13 to 19 leaflets, while Chinese wisteria leaves consist of 7 to 13 leaflets.
Flowers: Wisteria flowers are dangling and showy, blue-violet, and are borne on racemes. Racemes are 4 to 20 inches (10-50 cm) long and 3 to 4 inches (7-10 cm) wide. All Chinese wisteria flowers bloom at the same time, while Japanese wisteria flowers bloom in sequence, starting at the base.
Fruits: Wisteria fruits are velvety brown seed pods, 4 to 6 inches (10-15 cm) long, narrowed toward the base, with constrictions in the pods that separate the seeds. Each pod contains 1 to 8 flat, round, brown seeds, each 0.5 to 1 inch (1.2-2.5 cm) in diameter.
(www.fs.fed.us)
Wisteria Tree, Kawachi Fuji Gardens, Japan
Wisteria Tree, Kawachi Fuji Gardens, Japan
Image source: www.pinterest.com
Multiple sources
Wisteria sinensis (Chinese Wisteria)
Wisteria sinensis (Chinese Wisteria)
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Background
Chinese wisteria was introduced in 1816 as an ornamental plant. It has been widely planted and cultivated and is still very popular in the nursery trade despite its weedy and destructive habits.
Distribution and Habitat
Found extensively throughout the eastern U.S., Chinese wisteria has been reported to be invasive in at least 19 states from Massachusetts to Illinois south to Texas. Wisteria prefers full sun, but established vines will persist and reproduce in partial shade. Vines climb trees, shrubs and manmade structures. It is tolerant of a variety of soil and moisture regimes but prefers deep, loamy, well drained soils. Infestations are commonly found along forest edges, roadsides, ditches, and rights-of-way.
Ecological Threat
The hard woody vines twine tightly around host tree trunks and branches and cut through bark, causing death by girdling. On the ground, new vines germinating from seed or sprouting from rootstocks form dense thickets that smother and shade out native vegetation and impede natural plant community development. As girdled trees die, canopy gaps are created which increase the amount of sunlight reaching the forest floor. While this may temporarily favor some native species, it also stimulates vigorous growth and spread of wisteria.
Description and Biology
Plant: deciduous, woody twining vine that climbs up tree trunks in a clockwise direction; stems are stout, smooth gray-brown and covered with fine white hairs. Older plants can grow to 15 in. or more in diameter.
Leaves: alternate, compound, 6-10 in. long with 9-11 (7-13) leaflets; leaflets egg-shaped with wavy-margins and strongly tapering tips.
Flowers, fruits and seeds: flowering occurs in April before leaf expansion; flowers are lavender to purple, occur in pendulous racemes or clusters 6-8 (up to 12) in. long, and open mostly all at once; individual flowers are 0.8-0.9 in. long on 0.6-0.8 in. long stalks (pedicels); fruits are green to brown velvety seedpods 4-6 in. long, narrowed toward the base with constrictions between the 1-3 flat, round seeds; fruits begin to appear midsummer and persist for a long time on the vine.
Spreads: by seed which, in riparian areas, can be transported by water; vegetatively by producing stolons (above-ground stems) that produce shoots and roots at short intervals.
Look-alikes: Japanese wisteria; American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens), with leaves 7-12 in. long, 9-15 leaflets of uniform size, margins plane, tips acute to slightly tapering, smooth bright green above, undersides slightly milky, flowers in May after leaf expansion, flower clusters 4-6 in. long and not especially pendulous, individual flowers about ¾ in. long, pale lilac-purple with a yellow spot, fruit green and glabrous (not hairy); seeds swollen, bean to kidney-shaped; and trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) with opposite, compound leaves, leaflet margins toothed, flowers red-orange, tubular and bloom late spring through summer.
Source:National Park Service (www.nps.gov)
Wisteria floribunda (Japanese Wisteria)
Wisteria floribunda (Japanese Wisteria)
Left image Right image
Background
Japanese wisteria was introduced to the U.S. in 1830. It has been widely planted and cultivated and is still very popular in the nursery trade despite its weedy and destructive habits. It is probably frequently misidentified as Chinese wisteria.
Distribution and Habitat
Japanese wisteria is found invasive in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern U.S., from New York to Florida and west to Texas. Wisteria prefers full sun, but established vines will persist and reproduce in partial shade. Vines climb trees, shrubs and manmade structures. It is tolerant of a variety of soil and moisture regimes but prefers deep, loamy, well drained soils. Infestations are commonly found along forest edges, roadsides, ditches, and rights-of-way.
Ecological Threat
The hard woody vines twine tightly around host tree trunks and branches and cut through bark, causing death by girdling. On the ground, new vines germinating from seed or sprouting from rootstocks form dense thickets that smother and shade out native vegetation and impede natural plant community development. As girdled trees die, canopy gaps are created which increase the amount of sunlight reaching the forest floor. While this may temporarily favor some native species, it also stimulates vigorous growth and further spread of wisteria.
Description and Biology
Plant: deciduous woody, twining vine that climbs upwards in a counter-clockwise direction; stems are slender, brown and densely hairy when young, becoming hairless with age; older plants can grow to 15 in. or more in diameter.
Leaves: alternate, compound, 8-12 in. long, with 13-17 (11-19) leaflets; leaflets egg-shaped with wavy-margins and strongly tapering tips.
Flowers, fruits and seeds: flowering occurs in April before the leaves expand; flowers are violet to violet blue, occur in pendulous racemes 1-3 ft. in length and open sequentially from the base to the tip; flowers are 0.6-0.7 in. long on 0.6-0.8 in. long stalks (pedicels); fruits are velvety pods 4½-7½ in. long, broader towards the tip, and contain 3-6 round, flattened seeds each about ½ in. in diameter; pods begin to appear soon after flowering, mature during the summer and may persist for quite a while on the vines.
Spreads: by seed which, in riparian areas, is transported by water; vegetatively by producing stolons (above-ground stems) that produce shoots and roots at short intervals.
Look-alikes: Chinese wisteria; American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) with leaves 7-12 in. long, 9-15 leaflets of uniform size, margins plane, tips acute to slightly tapering, smooth bright green above, undersides slightly milky; flowers in May after leaf expansion, flower clusters 4-6 in. long and not especially pendulous, individual flowers about ¾ in. long, pale lilac-purple with a yellow spot; fruit green and glabrous (not hairy); seeds swollen, bean to kidney-shaped; and trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) with opposite, compound leaves, leaflet margins toothed, flowers red-orange, tubular and bloom late spring through summer.
Source:National Park Service (www.nps.gov)
Wisteria frutescens (American Wisteria)
Wisteria frutescens (American Wisteria)
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Wisteria frutescens, commonly known as American wisteria, is a woody, deciduous, perennial climbing vine, one of various wisterias of the Fabaceae family. It is native to the wet forests and stream banks of the southeastern United States, with a range stretching from the states of Virginia to Texas (Northeast Texas Piney Woods) and extending southeast through Florida, also north to Iowa, Michigan, and New York.
American wisteria can grow up to 15 m long over many supports via powerful clockwise-twining stems. It produces dense clusters of blue-purple, two-lipped, 2-cm-wide flowers on racemes 5–15 cm long in late spring to early summer. These are the smallest racemes produced by any Wisteria. Though it has never been favored in many gardens for this characteristic, many bonsai artists employ American wisteria for its manageably-sized flowers, and it is charming as a woodland flowering vine.
The foliage consists of shiny, dark-green, pinnately compound leaves 10–30 cm in length. The leaves bear 9-15 oblong leaflets that are each 2–6 cm long. It also bears numerous poisonous, bean-like seed pods 5–10 cm long that mature in summer and persist until winter; the pods are fuzzy and greenish-tan when young, but shiny brown and smooth when dry. The seeds are large and brown (see image). American wisteria prefers moist soils. It is considered shade tolerant, but will flower only when exposed to partial or full sun. It grows best in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-9.
Kentucky wisteria bears unscented bluish-purple flowers in racemes 15–30 cm long, a generally average length for the Wisteria family.
Several characteristics distinguish American wisteria from its Asian counterparts. It grows only two-thirds as tall, its racemes are half as long (the shortest of the wisteria family), and its bloom time is sometimes shorter than many Asian varieties. Its flowers are not scented, and its seed pods are smooth rather than velvety when mature. Its most redeeming feature is the fact that it is much less invasive than its Asian counterparts, especially the beautiful but ruthless Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis). American wisteria is very similar to Kentucky wisteria (Wisteria macrostachya) which has been considered a variety of W. frutescens but grows somewhat differently and has a fragrance.
(Wikipedia)
Wisteria Vine Sierra Madre California
Wisteria Vine Sierra Madre California 2013, Watch the video at www.youtube.com
Sierra Madre is known for its annual Wistaria Festival (an alternative spelling of Wisteria), which celebrates its 1 acre (4,000 m2) Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) vine, which was planted in the 1890s. The plant was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest flowering plant and one of the seven horticultural wonders of the world. The annual festival is the one day a year the vine on private property can be viewed. The city's more than 500-foot (150 m)-long Wisteria Vine, was purchased in 1894 by Mrs. William (Alice) Brugman from the old Wilson nursery, in Monrovia, for seventy-five cents. Over time, the vine, with its lavender flowers, grew so large that it crushed the house. Now the vine spans two back yards in the 500 block of North Hermosa Avenue. The vine measures more than 1 acre (4,000 m2) in size and weighs 250 tons. (Wikipedia: Sierra Madre, California)
Wisteria sinensis
Wisteria sinensis
A close up season impression animation of the free standing Wisteria sinensis in the Tsubo-en Zen garden in Lelystad, The Netherlands. Here this Wisteria is about 13 to 14 years old.
Wisteria sinensis
Wisteria sinensis
Dramatic flowers with an intoxicating fragrance cover this vigorous twining climber. Its cascading flower clusters grow to about 1 foot in length and are borne in abundance, with each one on the plant blooming more or less simultaneously, in late spring. Each small flower is usually light blue mixed with white, but plants are also available in colors such as violets, whites, and pinks. It blooms before foliage emerges.
Wisteria sinensis Illustration
Left: Wisteria sinensis painting (Plate from book)
Right: Engraving of Wisteria sinensis, from Curtis's Botanical Magazine vol. 46
Wisteria floribunda Illustration
Wisteria floribunda painting
A wisteria plant: flowering stems. Watercolour.
Wisteria floribunda Multijuga
Wisteria floribunda Multijuga Violet flowers with darker markings
The trails of flowers are ridiculously long in this variety. Some of these are close to 2ft long. Not much scent though.
Wisteria floribunda Violacea Plena
Wisteria floribunda Violacea Plena, Double violet flowers, rosette-shaped.
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Wisteria frutescens var. macrostachya (Kentucky wisteria)
Wisteria frutescens
Left: American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) vine climbing on oak tree in bloom. Duke Forest Durham Division, Durham, North CarolinaUSA.
Right: Wisteria frutescens
Wisteria frutescens Illustration
Left: American Wisteria, Wisteria frutescens offset color reproduction or engraving/etching By Ellis Rowan, 1901
Right: Wisteria frutescens (L.)Poiret var. flore pleno [as Glycine frutescens L. var. flore pleno]
Magnificent Colors of Wisteria
Magnificent Colors of Wisteria (High-definition image)
Additional images Kawachi Fuji Gardens, Japan
Watch the image source and video at youtube.com Magnificent Colors of Wisteria
Description of a flower of Wisteria sinensis
Description of a flower of Wisteria sinensis
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Wisteria Flowers, Japan (Illustration)
Wisteria Flowers, Japan (Illustration)
Image source: pixabay.com
Butterfly and Chinese wisteria flowers (Painting)
Butterfly and Chinese wisteria flowers (Painting)
Scanned from an old Chinese book.
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Inside Kameido Tenjin Shrine (Kameido Tenjin Keidai)
Inside Kameido Tenjin Shrine (Kameido Tenjin Keidai)
亀戸天神境内
Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum.
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Pine Tree, Stone and Wisteria (Painting)
Pine Tree, Stone and Wisteria, Painting by Li Shan
18th century, Qing Dynasty, China, Shanghai Museum,
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Tea-leaf jar with a design of wisteria
Tea-leaf jar with a design of wisteria
enamelware and gold and silver, height: 28.8 cm (11.3 in), bore diameter: 10.1 cm (4.0 in), trunk diameter: 27.3 cm (10.7 in), bottom diameter: 10.5 cm (4.1 in) MOA Museum, Atami, Shizuoka, Japan
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
