The discovery, naming and typification ofWisteria floribundaandW. brachybotrys (Fabaceae)with notes on associated names

815. Wisteria Sinensis on the Slow Boat From China: The Journey of Wisteria to England

“…White‐flowered variants of the Japanese species Wisteria floribunda and W. brachybotrys were known as illustrations in Japan and Europe in the 17th century (see Compton & Lack, : 223, 237), but were not described or introduced into cultivation in Europe until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first white flowered Wisteria sinensis however, was introduced to England by Robert Fortune in 1844 and was correctly described in 1858, 14 years later.…”

“…and W. brachybotrys Siebold & Zucc. It has been distinguished from W. floribunda by its sinistrorse (anti‐clockwise) direction of twining, fewer leaflets per leaf and by the larger flowers on more compact racemes (Compton & Lack, ). Although W. brachybotrys also has sinistrorse twining stems, it differs from W. sinensis by its even larger flowers and much greater pubescence on the leaves and inflorescence axis as befits its common name ‘silky Wisteria’.…”

816 & 817. WISTERIA BRACHYBOTRYS

“…The accompanying lithograph shows a blue‐flowered plant with short racemes that was based on a watercolour by the Japanese artist Kawahara Keiga. Siebold had commissioned Keiga from 1825 to paint objects of natural history interest during Siebold's 6 years employment as physician to the Dutch government on Dejima (Compton & Lack, ).…”

“…There are three recognized species of Wisteria native to the Japanese islands. The well known ‘noda fuji’ or W. floribunda (see Compton & Lack, ), the small cream or yellow July flowering ‘jama fuji’ W. japonica also called ‘Kaempfer's mountain wisteria’ (Compton & Lack, : 224; Compton & Thijsse, ) and the ‘silky wisteria’, W. brachybotrys . The latter species has been known for centuries in Japan where it has been esteemed for its exquisite scent, large individual flowers, short clavate, and abruptly tapering inflorescences, deep reddish tinged new stems and leaves which when they first emerge are covered in a golden silky pubescence.…”

The Remarkable P. F. B. Von Siebold, His Life in Europe and Japan

“…At the time he was unaware that, for the Japanese, he needed to learn the language well enough to pass himself off as a Dutchman. He was undertaking what had become a tried and tested route and by learning Dutch was following in the footsteps of Cleyer, Kämpfer and Thunberg (Compton & Lack, ), all of whom had to learn Dutch in order to circumvent the strict rule on nationality imposed by the Tokugawa shoguns (Fig. ).…”