1988 



WISTARIA 



WISTARIA 



bears profusely dense, drooping clusters of purplish 

 pea-shaped flowers. The clusters are about a foot long. 

 This is the commonest and best form. The others fur- 

 nish the connoisseur with variety in habit, color and 

 season of bloom, but they are not as prolific, and doub- 

 ling adds nothing to the beauty of the flowers. More- 

 over, the double flowers decay quickly in wet weather. 

 The Chinese Wistaria was introduced into England about 

 1816. Twenty-five years later there was a specimen in 

 England with branches attaining 100 ft. on each side of 

 the main stem, and another specimen that covered 905 

 square feet of wall space. 



The Chinese Wistaria blooms in May and usually gives 

 a smaller crop of flowers in August or September. The 

 spring crop is borne on spurs, while the autumn crop 

 is borne on terminal shoots of the season. There are 

 several ideas about training a Wistaria. A good way 



Chinensis, May 10-30; W. multijuga, May 15-31; W. 

 speciosa, June 1-8. 



Wistarias will live in rather dry and sandy soil, but 

 they prefer a deep and rich earth. Cuttings root with 

 difficulty and the common nursery practice is to graft a 

 small shoot on a piece of root. The roots are long and 

 few and go down deep, making few fibers. They resem- 

 ble licorice root. Wistarias are hard to transplant, un- 

 less they have been pot-grown for the purpose or fre- 

 quently transplanted in the nursery row. Unless ma- 

 nured heavily when transplanted, they are very slow in 

 starting into vigorous growth. The most satisfactory 

 method of propagation for the amateur is layering. 

 Those who wish to give a young Wistaria an extra 

 good start may sink a bottomless tub in the ground and 

 fill it with good soil. If a Wistaria is to be trained to 

 a tree, select an old tree, if possible, which is past 

 the height of its vigor. 



alba, 1. 2, 3, 4. 

 albinora, 1. 

 brachybotrys, 4. 

 Chinensis, 1. 

 consequana, 1. 



INDEX, 

 fiore-pleno, 1. 

 fruteseens, 3. 

 macrobotrys, 

 magnifies, 3. 

 multijuga, 2. 



rubra, 4. 

 Sinensis, 1. 

 speciosa. 3. 

 variegata, 1. 



Wmmmmm 



, yfr^ 



v*'* 1 ';. v. 



2744. Wistaria Chi 



is to let it alone. This produces rugged, twisted and 

 picturesque branches and gives a certain oriental ef- 

 fect, but it is not the best method for covering a 

 wall space solidly or for making the best display of 

 bloom. To cover a wall completely it is necessary to 

 keep the leaders taut and to train outside branches 

 wherever they are needed. If quantity of bloom is the 

 first consideration the vines should be pruned back every 

 year to spurs, a common method in Japan. The Japa- 

 nese chiefly use another species, TV. multijuga, which 

 often passes in our nurseries under the name of W. 

 Sinensis, the clusters of the Japanese favorite some- 

 times attaining 3 or 4 feet. The low, one-storied Japa- 

 nese building will have a Wistaria so trained that the 

 vine follows the eaves all round the house. The foli- 

 age is all above, and the yard-long clusters of purple 

 blossoms depend therefrom in solid, unbroken, linear 

 masses, 2 or 3 ranks deep. W. multijuga is said to be 

 less vigorous and productive in America and Europe 

 than Japan When trained as a standard the Wis- 

 taria requires much care. Probably the finest stand- 

 ard Wistaria is that figured in G.F. 6:256 and Gng. 

 1:321, wnere full directions for cultivation may be 

 found. The following dates of bloom will be useful to 

 those who reckon from the latitude of New York : V.'. 



A. Clusters moderately 

 long and dense, 7-12 

 in. long. "25-50-fld.: 



fls. odorless 1. Chinensis 



aa. Clusters 2S ft. long and 



looser: fls. odorless . .2. multijuga 

 AAA. Clusters short, 2S in., 

 12-25-fld.: fls. fra- 

 grant. 

 B. Lfls. glabrous abore.3. speciosa 

 bb. Lfts. silky 4. brachybotrys 



1. Chinensis, DC. ( TV. Sinensis, Sweet. 

 K f li r . consequana. Loud. W. polystachya, C. 

 ,J;. Koch.). Chinese Wistaria. Figs. 2744, 2745. 

 « 1 Hardy, fast and tall growing climber with pale 

 green compound foliage and foot-long clus- 

 ters of purplish pea-shaped fls. borne pro- 

 fusely in May. Lfts. about 11, ovate-lanceo- 

 late, 2-3 in. long, silky : racemes 7-12 in. 



long, about 25-50-fld.: fls. odorless, % in. 



_- : long, 1% in. across: fr. borne very sparingly, 



C'-'.'- especially on the var. albi flora. May and 

 \t ' Aug. China. Clusters in B.M. 2083 (adapted 



;.'",. in Fig. 2745), L.B.C. 8:773, P.M. 7:127 and 



''. ; * : B.R. 8:650 (as Glycine Sinensis), and Gn. 



39, p. 409. Habit in Gn. 4, p. 173 ; 11, p. 

 380; 12, p 469: 34, p. 376; 44, p. 7; 48, p. 

 157; 49, p. 43; 50, p. 183; 5], p. 396; 52, 

 p. 310; 53, p. 471; G.C. III. 21:7 and Gn. 51, 

 p. 286, the last showing the spur system of 

 pruning. V. 14:162 (pot- plant). G.F. 

 6:256 and Gng. 1:321 show "standards." 

 The typical form has single purple fls. and is some- 

 times called var. purpurea, Hort. Var. albiilora, 

 Lemaire (var. alba, Hort.), has single white flowers. 

 I.H. 5:166. Gn. 53, pp. 325, 470. Var. alba plena, Hort., 

 has double white flowers. Var. Ilore-pleno, Hort., has 

 double purple flowers. F. 1882:33. Gn. 17, p. 105; 34, 

 p. 373. Var. macrobdtrys, Beau. (II'. macrobdtrys, 

 Hort.), has fls. of a paler shade of blue-purple, the clus- 

 ters longer and looser, not adv. in America. Var. va- 

 riegata, Hort., has variegated foliage and is inferior to 

 the common form in habit and productiveness. Un- 

 desirable except for foliage effects. 



2. multijuga, Van Houtte ( W. Chinfnsis, var. multi- 

 'iiga, Hook.). Loose-clustered Wistaria. Fig. 2746. 

 Distinguished from IT. Chinensis by the longer and 

 looser raceme and smaller fls. which appear a week 

 later. Lfts. 17-21, silky when young, nearly glabrous 

 when old, pale green, larger than W. Chinensis: ra- 

 cemes 2-3 ft. long, twice as long as in TT. Chinensis, 

 looser and sometimes 100-fld. : fls. about half as large 

 as in W. Chinensis: pods oblanceolate, flattened, with 

 rigid, flat, thinly woody valves: seeds orbicular. Long 

 supposed to be native to Japan, but probablv native to 

 north China. F.S. 19:2002. R.H. 1891, pp. 176, 177. 

 B.M. 7522. Gng. 2:161. G.C. III. 13:233 and S.H. 



