The arching racemes of this pea relative adorn our free-standing plants in the Gilbert Carter Woodland.
This familiar hardy shrub is vigorous in habit, reaching in excess of 10m if allowed free-rein up a wall or scrambling through a supporting tree. Here we have trained it to form small, free-standing specimens, which allow easy access to admire the flowers. A native of China, this member of the pea family, Fabaceae, has alternate, pinnate foliage of eleven leaflets, and pendent racemes of mauve or lilac, lightly scented, pea-shaped flowers. These are followed by pea-like pods covered in light down, and containing two or tree seeds, though these are seldom viable. The genus Wisteria contains approximately 10 species from China, Korea, Japan, and the United States of America, and was named after Caspar Wistar, an American professor of anatomy in the early 1900’s.