WISTARIA (Neo-Lat., named in honor of Caspar Wistar). A genus of climbing deciduous shrubs of the natural order Leguminosæ. The species have drooping racemes of bluish flowers, for which they are commonly grown against the walls of houses or over arbors and trellises. Some of them are among the most magnificent ornamental climbers known in flower gardens. The Chinese wistaria (Wistaria Chinensis), the finest and most popular cultivated species, produces long clusters of showy blue flowers. It sometimes blossoms a second time in the fall. There are white, double-flowered and variegated-leaved horticultural varieties. This species is not hardy in the Northern United States. The American wistaria (Wistaria fructescens) produces clusters of dark blue flowers a little later in the season than the foregoing species. Wistarias grow in almost any soil and are propagated by seeds, layers, cuttings, and division. The young shoots are frequently layered in the summer and the young plants separated from the parent plant the next spring.
AMERICAN WISTARIA.