1988 



WISTARIA 



WISTARIA 



bears profusely dense, drooping clusters of purplish 

 pea-shiiped 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 prolitic, and doub- 

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

 over, the double tlowers decay quickly in wet weather. 

 The Chinese Wistaria was introduced into England about 

 1810. Twenty-tive years later there was a specimen in 

 Enghmd 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 tlowers 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 trainina: a Wistaria. A good way 



Chiitehsis, May 10-30; 11'. muftijuna , May 15-.31; W. 

 speciosa, June 1-8. 



Wistarias will live in rather dry and sandy soil, Imt 

 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 reseni- 

 blt- licorice root. Wistarias iire 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 transplantrd, 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. 



W 



'^^ 



alba, 1, 2, 3, 4. 

 albitlora, 1. 



brar.'hybntrys, 4, 

 Chineiisis, 1. 

 consfjuana, I. 



INDEX. 



floi'i-'-pleno, 1. 

 fn/tc'^nrns. 3. 

 Tn;i'T<jl>otrys, 1. 

 niasnitica, 3- 

 luult ijuya, 'J. 



rubra, 4. 

 Sinensis, 1. 

 sfeciosa, 3. 

 variegata, 1. 



fj>- 



)■(( t e I y 

 '.sr, 7-12 

 -r,0-f(d,: 



.1. 



long ami li 



in. Jong, 2. 



t'ls. odorless 

 Clitsters 2~3 ft. long and 



looser: fJs. odor/ess. . 

 Clusters short, 3-8 in., 



12-25^fJd.: fis. fra- 



gntnt. 

 B. Jjfts. (jlahrnns (fbove.3. speciosa 



Chinensis 

 multijuga 



BB. Lffs. fiilkl/ 



.■1. brachybotrys 



2744. Wistaria Chinensis. 



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 nuiking 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 sliould be pruned back every 

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

 nese chiefly use another species, W. multijugaj which 

 often passes in oiir nurseries under the name of W. 

 Sitipvsis, the clusters of the Japanese favorite some- 

 times attaining H or 4 feet. The low, one-storied Jay)a- 

 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 puri'lc 

 blossoms depend therefrom in solid, unbroken, linenr 

 masses, 2 or 3 ranks deep. 11'. nniUijiign is said tn \n- 

 less vigorous an<l productive in America and Europe 

 than Japan, When trained as a standard the Wis- 

 taria requires much care. Probably tlie finest stand- 

 ard Wistaria is that figured in G.P. Gi^.'G and Cng. 

 1 :l-i21, where full directions for cultivation may 1)6 

 found. The following dates of Idooni will be useful to 

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



1. Chin6nsis, DC. ( Tl^ Sinensis, Sweet. 

 ir. conscfjituna , Loud. W. polystdchya, C. 

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

 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 Ma}^ Lfts. about 11, ovate-lanceo- 

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

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

 ■ — long, 1% in. across: fr. borne very sparingly, 

 especially on the var. alhi flora . May and 

 Aug. China. Clusters in B.M. 2083 (adapted 

 in Pig. 274.5}, L. B.C. 8:773, P.M. 7:127 and 

 B.R. 8:050 (as Glycine Sinensis), and On. 

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

 380; 12, p 409: 34, p. 376; 44. p. 7; 48, p. 

 157; 49, p. 43; 50, p. 183; 51, p. 396; 52, 

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

 p. 280, the last showing the spur system of 

 pruning. V. 14:102 {pot -plant). G. F. 

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

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

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

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

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

 has double white flowers. Var. [lore-pleno, Hort., lias 

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

 p. 373. Var. macrobdtrys, Beau. ( W. niaerobdtrys, 

 Hort. ), has fls. of a paler shade of blue-]nir])le, the clus- 

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

 rieg&.ta, Hort., has variegated foliage and is inferior to 

 the common form in habit and productiveness. Un- 

 desiraldc except for foliage effects. 



2. multijuga, Van Houtte ( II'. Chinrnsis, var. nnilli- 

 'iiga, Hook.). Lodse-clusteked Wistaria, Fig. 2746. 

 Distinguished from W. 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. Chi)iensis: ra- 

 cemes 2-3 ft. long, twice as long as in W. 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.i\L 7522. Gng. 2:161. <4.C. 111. 13:233 and S.H. 



