Flora of North America species comparison

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Wisteria frutescens

American wisteria
Stems

twining counterclockwise.
Leaves

leaflets 9–15, blades elliptic to lanceolate, 6 × 3 cm.
Racemes

5–15(–22) cm;

anthesis gradual.
Pedicels

0.5–0.8 cm.
Flowers

appearing after leaves, unscented;

calyx middle lobe of abaxial lip to 3 mm;

corolla usually azure or purple, rarely white, 1.5–2 cm;

banner 1.7–1.8 × 1.4–1.5 cm, reflexed at middle, apex rounded, auricles of median callosity 0.7–0.8 mm;

wings 1.7–1.8 × 0.6 cm;

keel 1.2–1.3 × 0.6–0.7 cm;

ovary glabrous.
Legumes

plump, linear-oblong, 5–12(–15) cm, explosively dehiscent, glabrous, endocarp not readily separable from exocarp.
Seeds

plump, reniform.
2n

= 16.

Wisteria frutescens
Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Bottomland forests, riverbanks, stream banks, bayheads.
Elevation 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MI; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Wisteria
Sibling taxa
W. floribunda, W. sinensis, W. ×formosa
Synonyms Glycine frutescens, Kraunhia macrostachys, W. frutescens var. macrostachya, W. macrostachya
Name authority (Linnaeus) Poiret in J. Lamarck and J. Poiret: Tabl. Encyl. 3: 674. (1823)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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