Wisteria sinensis (Chinese Wisteria) is a woody, deciduous, perennial climbing vine in the genus Wisteria, native to China in the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Yunnan. While this plant is a climbing vine, it can be trained into a tree-like shape, usually with a wavy trunk and a flattened top.

It can grow 20-30 m long over supporting trees by counter-clockwise-twining stems. The leaves are shiny, green, pinnately compound, 10-30 cm in length, with 9-13 oblong leaflets that are each 2-6 cm long. The flowers are white, violet, or blue, produced on 15-20 cm racemes in spring, usually reaching their peak in mid-May. The flowers on each raceme open simultaneously before the foliage has expanded, and have a distinctive fragrance similar to that of grapes. Though it has shorter racemes than Wisteria floribunda (Japanese Wisteria), it often has a higher quantity of racemes. The fruit is a flattened, brown, velvety, bean-like pod 5-10 cm long with thick disk-like seeds around 1 cm in diameter spaced evenly inside; they mature in summer and crack and twist open to release the seeds; the empty pods often persist until winter. However seed production is often low, and most regenerative growth occurs through layering and suckering. One very interesting fact about this plant is that it is actually a member of the pea family, and the abovementioned seedpods are actually legumes.

6 SEEDS