Varieties of American Wisteria

Wisteria floribunda (Willd.) DC. -- Japanese wisteria

This is listed as an exotic invasive plant in Tennessee and is found distributed from Maine, down the eastern seaboard in almost all the states to Florida and then west to Texas and North to Illinois. The Japanese wisteria is one of the species generally sold as garden plants in the United States. Some of the popular cultivars are the Alba, which produce white flowers; Carnea, which blooms flesh-pink flowers; Longissima, which blooms light purple flowers in very long clusters; Longissima Alba, with white flowers and 15-inch clusters; Macrobotrys, with flower clusters to 3 feet or longer, reddish-violet to violet; Praecox, with more dwarf, blue-purple flowers; Purpurea, blooms purple flowers; Rosea has pale rose flowers, tipped purple and are 18 inches long; Rubra, with deep pink to red flowers and Violacea Plena, with double reddish violet flowers.

This plant is only found growing in Louisiana and Florida but is not a native plant. This is the hybrid result of a combination of the Chinese and Japanese wisteria now found across the southeastern United States.

This is the only wisteria species that is native to the United States. It is present in all the states from New York and Massachusetts to the north, west to the Mississippi, south to Texas and east to Florida. This vine has unscented flowers and tends to grow in bottomlands or wetlands in the wild.

This plant is listed on the invasive plant list for Florida and Tennessee. Chinese wisteria is sold as a garden plant in most of the southeastern United States and is the most popular of the species because of its showy and highly fragrant flowering in the spring. Some of the recent cultivars include, Alba, which are white and very fragrant; Black Dragon, which are double and dark purple); Purpurea, which are pale purple; Plena and Caroline, Variegata.