Wisteria frutescens(L.) Poir.

American wisteria

WFO wfo-0000178771 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Wisteria frutescens, photographed by Lauren McLaurin
fig. a Lauren McLaurin, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-17 / obs. 188998740
Wisteria frutescens, photographed by vrschmalhofer
fig. b vrschmalhofer, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 133827063
Wisteria frutescens, photographed by Scott Allen Davis
fig. c Scott Allen Davis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 36644709
Wisteria frutescens, photographed by mfeaver
fig. d mfeaver, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 33528371
Wisteria frutescens, photographed by mfeaver
fig. e mfeaver, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 33528401
Wisteria frutescens, photographed by Ira Gershenhorn
fig. f Ira Gershenhorn, CC0 1.0 / obs. 8108653
Wisteria frutescens, photographed by Patty Mitchum
fig. g Patty Mitchum, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 147089676
Wisteria frutescens, photographed by bookfinch
fig. h bookfinch, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194943373

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 28 botanical countries

Regions where Wisteria frutescens is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia AlabamaArkansasConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaIowaKentuckyLouisianaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMississippiMissouriNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaOhioOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVirginiaWest Virginia DelawareRhode I.
Native distribution of Wisteria frutescens, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Pennsylvania PEN
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 27 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Apios frutescens (L.) Pursh
  • Bradburya scandens Raf.
  • Bradlea frutescens (L.) Britton
  • Bradlea macrostachya (Torr. & A.Gray) Small
  • Bradlea macrostachys (Torr. & A.Gray) Small
  • Diplonyx elegans Raf.
  • Glycine caerulea Salisb.
  • Glycine frutescens L.
  • Glycine frutescens var. magnifica Hérincq
  • Kraunhia frutescens (L.) Greene
  • Kraunhia frutescens (L.) Kuntze
  • Kraunhia macrostachya (Torr. & A.Gray) Small
  • Kraunhia macrostachys (Torr. & A.Gray) Small
  • Phaseoloides frutescens (L.) Kuntze
  • Phaseolus frutescens (L.) Eaton & Wright
  • Thyrsanthus floridana Croom
  • Thyrsanthus frutescens (L.) Elliott
  • Wisteria backhouseana Bosse
  • Wisteria frutescens f. nivea (Lesc.) Zabel
  • Wisteria frutescens var. albolilacina Dippel
  • Wisteria frutescens var. backhouseana (Bosse) André
  • Wisteria frutescens var. macrostachya Torr. & A.Gray
  • Wisteria frutescens var. magnifica (Hérincq) André
  • Wisteria frutescens var. nivea Lesc.

and 3 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.