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American Wisteria
Wisteria frutescens
33.3385, -81.8399
Field Notes
Description:
American Wisteria is a woody, deciduous, perennial climbing vine of the Fabaceae family. It can grow up to 15m long over many supports via powerful clockwise-twining stems. It produces dense clusters of blue-purple, two-lipped, 2-cm-wide flowers on racemes 5–15 cm long in late spring to early summer.
Habitat:
It is native to the wet forests and stream banks of the southeastern United States, with a range stretching from the states of Virginia to Texas (Northeast Texas Piney Woods) and extending southeast through Florida, also north to Iowa, Michigan, and New York. This one was photographed at the Kathwood Ponds at the Silver Bluff Audubon Center near Jackson (Aiken County, SC).
Notes:
Several characteristics distinguish American Wisteria from its Asian counterparts. It grows only two-thirds as tall, its racemes are half as long (the shortest of the Wisteria family), and its bloom time is sometimes shorter than many Asian varieties. Its flowers are not scented, and its seed pods are smooth rather than velvety when mature. Its most redeeming feature is the fact that it is much less invasive than its Asian counterparts, especially the beautiful but ruthless Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis).
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