Growing Wisteria floribunda: Tips for a Stunning Garden Display

Wisteria floribunda, also known as Japanese Wisteria, is a species in the pea family’s wisteria genus. This deciduous vine is a large climber with reddish-brown bark. Its pinnate leaves are 20-30 cm long with an overall inflorescence, and its flowers are purple to bluish-purple.

The fruit is an inverted lanceolate pod. The blooming period occurs from late April to mid-May, while the fruiting period takes place from May to July. Originally from Japan, this plant is also cultivated in various parts of China.

There are many variations in the flowers of this species in horticultural varieties, such as white, light red, variegated, and double-petaled.

Japanese Wisteria has excellent medicinal and ornamental value with its stem bark, flowers, and seeds used in medicine to distill aromatic oils, and it can also detoxify and stop vomiting and diarrhea.

I. Physical Features

Japanese Wisteria is a deciduous vine with reddish-brown bark. The stem turns right, branches are soft and thin, densely branched, leaves are lush, initially densely covered with brown short soft hair, later becoming bald.

The pinnate leaves are 20-30 cm long; the stipules are linear and early deciduous.

The leaflets are 5-9 pairs, thin paper-like, ovate-lanceolate, equally large from bottom to top, or gradually narrowing and shortening, 4-8 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, the apex is gradually pointed, the base is blunt or oblique, both sides are covered with flat hair when young, later gradually bald; the petiole is 3-4 mm long, black after drying, soft-haired; the stipules are bristly, about 3 mm long, and easily fall off.

The overall inflorescence grows on the shoots of the annual branches, and the flowers on the same branch open almost simultaneously.

The lower part of the branch’s leaves open first, the inflorescence is 30-90 cm long, 5-7 cm in diameter, and the flowers bloom in sequence from bottom to top; the inflorescence axis is densely covered with white short hair; the bracts are lanceolate, early deciduous, the flowers are 1.5-2 cm long; the flower stalk is thin, 1.5-2.5 cm long; the calyx is cup-shaped, 4-5 mm long, 5-6 mm wide, and densely silky with the flower stalk, the upper 2 calyx teeth are very blunt, round-headed, the lower 3 teeth are sharp, the lowest 1 tooth is very long, up to 3 mm; the corolla is purple to bluish-purple, the standard petal is round, the apex is round, the base is slightly heart-shaped, the wing petals are narrowly elongated, the base is flat, with small sharp corners, the keel petals are broader, nearly sickle-shaped, the apex is round and blunt; the ovary is linear, densely velvet-haired, the pistil is bent upward, hairless, and the ovule has 8 grains.

The fruit is an inverted lanceolate pod, 12-19 cm long, 1.5-2 cm wide, flat, densely velvet-haired, with 3-6 seeds; the seeds are purple-brown, glossy, round, 1-1.4 cm in diameter.

The blooming period is from late April to mid-May, the fruiting period is from May to July, and the pod remains at the branch end. The flowers of this species have many variations in horticultural varieties, such as white, light red, variegated, and double-petaled.

II. Distribution Range

Originally from Japan, it is cultivated throughout China.

III. Growth and Propagation

Wisteria is easy to propagate. It can be propagated by seeding, cuttings, layering, division, and grafting, but primarily through seeding and cuttings. However, because seedlings take a long time to cultivate, cuttings are most commonly used.

Cutting Propagation: Hardwood cuttings are generally used for propagation. In mid to late March, before the branches sprout, select robust branches that are 1-2 years old, cut them into cuttings about 15cm long, and insert them into a prepared nursery bed.

The cutting depth should be 2/3 of the length of the cutting. After inserting, spray with water, strengthen care, and keep the nursery bed moist.

The survival rate is very high. The plant height can reach 20-50cm in the same year, and it can be moved out of the nursery two years later. Root cutting takes advantage of wisteria’s ability to easily generate adventitious buds on the roots.

In mid to late March, dig up roots that are 0.5-2.0cm thick, cut them into cuttings 10-12cm long, and insert them into the nursery bed. The cutting depth should keep the upper cut of the cutting level with the ground. Other management measures are the same as branch cutting.

Seed Propagation: Seed propagation is carried out in March. Harvest the seeds in November, remove the pod skins, dry them, and store them in bags. Before sowing, soak the seeds in hot water.

When the boiling water temperature drops to about 30°C, remove the seeds and rinse them in cold water for a moment, then keep them moist for a day and night before sowing. Or store the seeds in moist sand and soak them in clean water for 1-2 days before sowing.

Layering Propagation: After the leaves fall, take two-year-old branches, peel off part of the skin, and press them into the soil.

Division Propagation: Cut off the young plants that emerge from the root junction and transplant them in winter or spring.

Grafting Propagation: Graft one or two-year-old branches at the root, and move them out after they survive.

IV. Main Value

The stem bark, flowers, and seeds of Multiflora Wisteria are used in medicine. Multiflora Wisteria flowers can be used to extract essential oils and can be used to detoxify and stop vomiting and diarrhea.

The seeds of Multiflora Wisteria are slightly poisonous, contain cyanide, and can be used to treat muscle and bone pain, and can also prevent alcohol from spoiling.

The bark of Multiflora Wisteria can kill insects and relieve pain, and can be used to treat wind-damp pain and pinworm disease, among others.