Wisteria Nutt.
Shrubs, usually climbing. Lvs imparipinnate; leaflets entire, often stipellate; stipules small. Infls terminal, racemose, pendulous; bracts caducous; bracteoles 0. Calyx campanulate; 2 upper teeth short and slightly connate; 3 lower teeth longer, free. Corolla usually purple or lilac, rarely yellow or white. Vexillary stamen free or partly connate with the others into a closed tube; anthers uniform, basifixed. Style inflexed, glabrous; stigma terminal. Pod 2-valved, ± straight, dehiscent, many-seeded; sutures not thickened; seeds estrophiolate.
c. 6 spp., China, Japan, E. North America. Naturalised sp. 1.
Stritch, L. R., Phytologia 56: 183-184 (1984), has divided Wisteria into 2 closely related genera; if his work is accepted the common cultivated wisteria takes the name Rehsonia sinensis (Sims) Stritch.
