Wisteria sinensis
Chinese Wisteria ( Wisteria sinensis ), illustration
The Chinese Wisteria ( Wisteria sinensis), also known as Chinese Wisteria, is a plant of the genus Wisteria ( Wisteria ) in the subfamily of the Fabaceae ( Faboideae ).
Description
The Chinese wisteria is a deciduous, handsome, left twining plant with arm-thick stems and slender branches. You may be 20 to 30 meters long along climbing on other trees or self-supporting, reaching a height of 10 meters.
The long -stalked leaves are alternate, up to 30 inches long and 7 to 13 - pinnately trifoliate unpaired. Furthermore, the plant has stipules short-lived.
The short- stalked leaflets are five to eight inches long, smooth edges and have an elongated, elliptical shape. At the base they are wedge-shaped front tapering slender and sometimes curled slightly sinuate. The Endfiedern are a little larger than the lateral leaflets and hairy at first fitting, later they are completely bald.
The one to two inches long, very fragrant flowers are in numerous long pendulous clusters on short shoots and appear before the leaves. The calyx is bell-shaped and has five teeth of unequal length. The crown is pale blue to blue-violet, the color may differ in some varieties but from. The wings are sickle-shaped, the keel slightly bent. The plant flowers from May to June with all the flowers of the inflorescence bloom about the same time.
The velvety gray hairy fruits have rough sleeves and are constricted between the seeds. They are ripe in July to August.
Ecology
The Chinese wisteria is a deciduous, climbing shrub with twining left woody main axis and can also be considered as a small tree. Leaf movements are possible by leaf joints. There are root nodules with nitrogen -fixing bacteria present.
The flowers are in pretty dichtblütigen, hanging racemes; by rotation through 180 °, the flowers get there back to their normal position. The flowers are fragrant " flowers with butterfly brush device ". The nectar is abundant secreted at the base of the open-top stamen tube. The only, but regular pollinators is with us the Great Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa violacea; other insects can not trigger the brush mechanism. The Blühreife is reached at about 10 years. Bloom time is from May to June.
The sleeves each have only one (-3) seeds. In Germany, only fruits are rarely formed, but it can be an increasing trend for fruit set are detected. With a spreading width of up to 10 m, the sleeves reach as dehydration spreader with us a record. The fruits are inflated just above the seed and jump only there to. Fruit ripening is achieved from July to August, but when winter Stayers the fruits open until the spring of next year.
Vegetative propagation is carried out by above-ground runners.
Toxicity
The Chinese Wisteria is poisonous; poisonous plant parts are roots, twigs, bark, fruits, and especially the seeds.
Active ingredients: Wistarin, which is similar but not as strong as the cytisine of the laburnum is to act. Furthermore, a toxic resin and allantoic acid in the leaves.
May vary the amount of ingredients depending on location and season.
Poisoning: upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, dilated pupils, sometimes lethargy, circulatory disorders, collapse. Already 2 seed will cause symptoms of poisoning in children.
Dissemination
The Chinese wisteria is native to East Asia, particularly China and particularly from the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi and Yunnan. But it is now widely used in Europe and North America
The plant prefers moist soils. It also grows in the shade, flowering but only if it is at least partially illuminated by the sun. It is often planted in different varieties of clothing for walls, facades or pergolas.
Others
The Chinese wisteria can be more than 100 years old. The winds sense of the plant is genetically determined. The growing shoot axis leads therefore in the growth direction circular motion from, always counterclockwise.
Detailed flower clusters
Detail of the flowers
Fruits
White flowering variety: Wisteria sinensis ' Alba'