| General Description | Tall-growing, woody deciduous vine with significant ornamental value. Many racemes of white flowers during April – June makes this plant a show stopper, along with its bright green leaves covered in silky hairs. This vine is toxic if ingested raw. |
| ID Characteristic | Long drooping sprays of white flowers. Bright green leaves which are obovate and pinnately compound. Long pea like seed pods. The plant is a vine so it will usually require support. Soft white hairs covering the leaves, flower buds, seed pods and sometimes the stems giving the plant a silky texture. |
| Landscape | Grown on sturdy structures not limited too arbours, pergolas, sides of buildings and fences. It can be trained into a specimen shrub or bonsai tree. Use in informal, courtyard, and cottage gardens. |
| Propagation | Propagated by layering, grafting, hardwood cuttings, or softwood cuttings. |
| Cultivation | ​Grows in sand, clay, loam and chalk soils that are fertile and moist but well-drained. South- or west-facing in full sun to partial shade. Sheltered exposure such as a wall. Alkaline, acid and neutral soils it is ollution and salt tolerant. |
| Pests | Scale insects (Wisteria Scale). Can be affected by leaf spot and powdery mildews. Although susceptible to these pests they are not common. |
| Notable Specimens | Sissinghurst Garden, Sissinghurst, England. Kemper Center Garden, Missouri, United States of America. |
| Bark/Stem Description | Smooth brown bark. Fine texture and visible lenticels. Covered in silk silver-white pubescence. Bark is not a feature of this plant as stems are thin and bark is hidden behind the vibrant leaves and attractive flowers for most of the year. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | Flower buds are large and plump, light green, scaled, and covered in fine white soft hairs. Leaf buds are smaller and dark brown. |
| Leaf Description | 20 - 35 cm alternatively pinnately compound leaves that are bright green in colour and covered by soft hairs on the lower surface. Each leaves has about 9 - 13 leaflets with the terminal leaflet being the largest. Leaflets are ovate-oblong to lanceolate-oblong. |
| Flower Description | Showy white hermaphrodite flowers with central yellow stamen, florets are are about 3 cm long. Arranged in a raceme that is 10 - 15 cm long with flowers opening at the same time. Fragrant, white, tomentose, truncate and cuspidate. Pollinated by insects. It sometimes produces another flush of sparse flowers in autumn. |
| Fruit Description | ​15 - 20 cm bean-like pods carry seeds and ripen in August - September. Pods are velvety and seeds are round, brown, and 1.2 cm in diameter. Ovary has 12 ovules. |
| Colour Description | Leaves are bright green mid-spring, summer and autumn. Flowers have white corolla with central yellow stain. Green seed pods. Medium-brown bark. |
| Texture Description | Smooth bark. Velvety pods and undersides of leaves. Texture is fine and the small hairs on underside of leaves change throughout season. |
