Chinese Wisteria
Wisteria sinensis
Commonly cultivated, escaped to a wide diversity of urban, suburban, and rural forests and woodlands. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Mississippi. 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 Mississippi.
Plant this instead
Choose your county to list local plants first.
- American WisteriaWisteria frutescens
Published recommendation: Tennessee Invasive Plant Council (TN-IPC)
- MaypopsPassiflora incarnata
Published recommendation: South Carolina Native Plant Society, Lowcountry Chapter
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
Recorded in 27 Mississippi counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.
Who uses this plant?
19CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · 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 19
- Oedemasia concinnaRed-Humped Caterpillar, Red-Humped Appleworm
- Orgyia leucostigmaWhite-Marked Tussock Moth
- Paonias excaecataBlinded Sphinx, Blind Eyed Sphinx
- Sciota subcaesiellaLocust Leafroller
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Synanthedon scitulaDogwood Borer, Pecan Borer
- Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformisEvergreen Bagworm Moth
- Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
- Zale lunataLunate Zale
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” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Blue, pink, purple or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Fruit begins · “July” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “November” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · 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
| Mississippi rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| MS status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition
- Mississippi occurrence source
- 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




