682 WISTARIA 







produce so fine a display. Commencing to blossom in the latter part of 

 June, it continues until the end of August. 



Var. ALBA. Flowers white. 



W. MACROSTACHYA, Nuttall. Under the name of " W. frutescens var. 

 magnifica," this Wistaria has long been in cultivation. In habit, foliage, and 

 flower characters it is very like W. frutescens, but is a much handsomer 

 plant and differs in the following respects : Leaflets rather larger; racemes 

 8 to 12 ins. or even more long, with up to ninety flowers on each; calyx teeth 

 longer in proportion to the tube; flower-stalk and calyx very glandular as 

 well as hairy. Well worthy of cultivation. Native of Missouri, Arkansas, 

 Tennessee, etc. 



W. JAPONICA, * Siebold. 



(Milletia japonica, A. Gray.") 



A deciduous climber with slender twining stems. In a state of nature it 

 climbs up bushes and small trees, which eventually become almost entirely 

 enveloped by it. Leaves 6 to 9 ins. long, composed of nine to thirteen 

 leaflets, which are ovate, rounded, or slightly heart-shaped at the base; iA to 

 2^ ins. long, i to f in. wide; bright glossy green and smooth below. 

 Racemes axillary, often branched, very slender, many-flowered, 6 to 12 ins. 

 long. Flowers white, ^ in. or so long (the smallest of Wistarias), each 

 produced on a stalk in. long. Calyx bell-shaped, ^ in. long, smooth 

 except for the ciliate margins, five-toothed. Pod 3 to 4 ins. long, -g- in. wide, 

 quite smooth, six- to seven-seeded. 



Native of Japan; introduced for Messrs Veitch by Maries, in 1878. It 

 first flowered in August, 1884, at the Coombe Wood nursery. One of the 

 most distinct of Wistarias, belonging, perhaps, to another genus, this species 

 never appears to have had full justice done to it in this country. It is worth 

 growing if only for the lateness of its flowers (July and August). The often 

 branching racemes, small flowers, and almost entire absence of down, distin- 

 guish it clearly. According to Siebold, a tree enveloped by this Wistaria in 

 full flower forms a "magnificent coup d'ail, giving to vegetation an aspect 

 of wild beauty." 



W. MULTIJUGA, Van Houtte. 



(Flore des Serres, t. 2002 ; W. chinensis var. multijuga, Hooker fil, Bot. Mag., t. 7522.) 



A deciduous climber of luxuriant habit, with very slender, twining, silky 

 young branches. Leaves pinnate, with five and a half to ten and a half pairs 

 of leaflets, which are ovate, \\ to 3 ins. long, silky hairy when young, smooth 

 or nearly so later. Racemes i to 3^ ft. long, i\ to 3 ins. wide, carrying 

 very numerous flowers, each f . in. long, borne at intervals of about 5- in. 

 along the main-stalk ; flower-stalk nearly i in. long; standard petal roundish, 

 f in. wide, pale lilac; wing-petals and keel tipped with purplish blue. Pod 

 4 to 9 ins. long, narrowed towards the base, velvety. 



A cultivated form of a species confined in a wild state to Japan ; intro- 

 troduced to Belgium by Siebold, and thence to Kew in 1874. The wild type, 

 with racemes 8 or 10 ins. long, is also grown there. (See note on W. 

 brachybotrys.) There is a very famous plant at Kameido, which has often 

 been illustrated and described by travellers. It forms a huge arbour, 

 extending partly over a piece of water spanned by a semicircular 

 Japanese bridge. With its thousands of slender, pendulous racemes 

 3 to 4 ft. long, crowded with lilac blossoms " odorous of honey 

 and buzzing with bees," it makes, no doubt, one of the most 



