Chinese Wisteria
Wisteria sinensis
Commonly cultivated, escaped to a wide diversity of urban, suburban, and rural forests and woodlands. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
-85
Severe harm
Not native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 82%
- Height
- 10–25 feet
- Spread
- 4–30 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
Do not plant. Listed invasive in Florida.
Plant this instead
Choose your county to list local plants first.
- MaypopsPassiflora incarnata
Published recommendation: South Carolina Native Plant Society, Lowcountry Chapter
- Climbing AsterSymphyotrichum carolinianum
Published recommendation: South Carolina Native Plant Society, Lowcountry Chapter
- American WisteriaWisteria frutescens
Published recommendation: Tennessee Invasive Plant Council (TN-IPC)
No recorded swaps for this county. Try the garden finder.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Woody perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- April to July
- Fruiting season
- July to November
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Recorded in 40 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
18CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Wisteria
- Epargyreus clarusSilver-spotted Skipper
- Acharia stimuleaSaddleback Caterpillar Moth
- Anticarsia gemmatalisVelvetbean Caterpillar Moth
- Automeris ioIo Moth
- Ecdytolopha insiticianaLocust Twig Borer Moth
- Euphydryas phaetonThe Baltimore, The Black Checker
- Gesta horatiusHorace's Duskywing, Brown Duskywing
- Gesta zaruccoZarucco Duskywing
- Hyalophora cecropiaCecropia Silkmoth, Cecropia Moth
- Hyphantria cuneaFall Webworm
Show all 18
- Oedemasia concinnaRed-Humped Caterpillar, Red-Humped Appleworm
- Orgyia leucostigmaWhite-Marked Tussock Moth
- Paonias excaecataBlinded Sphinx, Blind Eyed Sphinx
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Synanthedon scitulaDogwood Borer, Pecan Borer
- Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformisEvergreen Bagworm Moth
- Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
- Zale lunataLunate Zale
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimGrowing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–8b
- Soil pH
- Acidic to alkaline
- Flower color
- Blue, pink, purple or white
- Fruit begins
- July
- Fruit ends
- November
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “April to July” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Blue, pink, purple or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Fruit begins · “July” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “November” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Hardiness · “Zones 5a–8b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “10–25 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Fire Effects Information System: Wisteria sinensis differs)
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Woody perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Moist” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic to alkaline” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “4–30 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- Florida Invasive Species Council list
- USDA PLANTS
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications