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Chinese / Japanese Wisterias

Wisteria sinensis and W. floribunda

Plant: High-climbing, twining or trailing woody vines (or cultured to be shrubs), to 70 ft (20 m) long, with vine runners rooting at nodes, forming dense infestations. Chinese and Japanese wisteria difficult to separate due to possible hybrids.

Stem: Climbing by twining, covering shrubs and trees, to 10 in (25 cm) in diameter, branching infrequently, twigs densely short hairy, older bark of Chinese wisteria tight and gray with light dots (lenticels) while Japanese wisteria is white barked. Both rooting where vines covered by leaf litter.

Leaves: Deciduous, alternate, odd pinnately compound, 4-16 in (10-40 cm) long, leaflets 7-13 (Ch.) and 13-19 (Jap.), each ovate to elliptic with tapering pointed tips, 1.6-3 in (4-8 cm) long and 1-1.4 in (2.5-3.5 cm) wide, sessile or short petioled, margins entire, hairless to short hairy at maturity but densely silky hairy when young, stalks with swollen bases.

Flowers: Mar-May. Fragrant, dangling and showy, stalked clusters (racemes) appearing when leaves emerge, all blooming at about the same time (Ch.) or gradually from base (Jap.), 4-20 in (10-50 cm) long and 3-3.5 in (7-9 cm) wide, pea-type, corolla lavender to violet (to pink to white).

Fruit and seeds: Jul-Nov. Flattened legume (pod), velvety hairy, greenish-brown to golden, irregularly oblong to
Chines wisteria
April (J. Miller)

Chinese wisteria
May (T. Bodner)
oblanceolate, 2.5-6 in (6-15 cm) long and 1 in (2-3 cm) wide, splitting on 2 sides releasing 1-8 seeds.

Ecology: Forms dense infestations where previously planted, often with other exotic invasive plants, and only invasive after disturbance. Occurs on wet to dry sites. Colonizes by vine growth and runner sprouting, appearing not to be widely spread by seed.

Resembles American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) which occurs in wet forests, 9-15 leaflets, flowers in Jun-Aug after leaves developed, flower clusters 6 in (15 cm) long, pods hairless, and old vines slender; trumpetcreeper (Campsis radicans) which has leaflets with coarsely-toothed margins.

Exotic Pest Plant Control Recommendations

Bayer International Code - WISI / WIFL
FIA Code - 3251

Chinese wisteria
May (T. Bodner)		 Chinese wisteria
May (J. Miller)

Chinese wisteria
September (T. Bodner)		 States with suspected Chinese
wisteria infestations are shown in red.*

* USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. February 5, 2002.
States with suspected Japanese
wisteria infestations are shown in red.*
line
USDA Forest ServiceUSDA APHIS PPQ The Bugwood Network University of Georgia Invasive.org is a joint project of
The Bugwood Network, USDA Forest Service & USDA APHIS PPQ.
The University of Georgia - Warnell School of Forest Resources and
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Dept. of Entomology
Last updated on Sunday, August 10, 2003 at 11:12 PM
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