Chinese wisteria is best known for its pendant racemes of blue or lavender pea-like flowers. All the flowers on the foot-long racemes open about the same time. Some Chinese wisteria have little fragrance; the photographed specimen had a heady, almost overpowering scent.

Chinese wisteria is a vigorous, some say rampant, climber growing to 7 meters (25 feet) in length; very old specimens have been recorded at close to 30 meters (100 feet). The vine climbs by twining counter-clockwise becoming thick and gnarly with age. In the southern US, the vine has escaped from cultivation. It is declared an exotic pest plant since it smothers (shades out) mature trees and its weight breaks small trees and branches.

With regular training, Wisteria are versatile—allowed to climb, or shaped as a standard (small tree), a shrub, or even a bonsai. But it isn't the easiest to grow well—the vine must be regularly pruned and the wrong fertilizer will produce a great vine that never flowers. It has another little quirk; it is best started from a cutting or by grafting. Grown from seed, the vine will not bloom until it is 10 or more years old.

(Compiled from: "Wisteria", Hortus Third, Staff L.H. Bailey Hortorium, NY State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Macmillan, NY, 1976; "Wisteria", A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, C. Brickell and J.D. Zuk, American Horticultural Society, DK Publishing, NY, 1996; "Wisteria", Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants, Wunderlin, R. P., and B. F. Hansen. Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa, 2004. [S. M. Landry and K. N. Campbell (application development), Florida Center for Community Design and Research.] and "Wisteria sinensis", Edward F. Gilman, Cooperative Extension Service, IFAS, University of Florida, FPS-613, 1999.)