Niwafuji (Japanese wisteria) - Indigofera decora; Chinese indigo

Japanese: ニワフジ(庭藤) - ニワフジ（英語表記）Indigofera decora; Chinese indigo

A perennial plant of the legume family. It is also called Iwafuji (rock wisteria). It grows on the riverbanks and rock walls of mountain streams in the Kinki region and west of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, and is often planted in stone walls and gardens of houses. It was introduced to Europe from China in the mid-19th century, but it is thought that it is not native to China, but rather that it was originally from Japan and then passed through China to Europe. The stem is woody, cylindrical, thin and hard, reaches a height of 50-60 cm, and branches sparsely. The leaves are odd-pinnate compound leaves with 3-5 pairs of leaflets that are oblong, white on the underside, and sparsely hairy. In summer, large racemes up to 20 cm long grow upward from the leaf axils, and produce many red or occasionally white butterfly-shaped flowers. The fruit is a cylindrical legume, and when ripe, the pod splits into two.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

マメ科の多年草。イワフジ (岩藤) ともいう。近畿地方以西の本州，四国，九州の山地の川岸や谷川の岩壁に生え，しばしば人家の石垣や庭にも植えられる。中国から 19世紀のなかばにヨーロッパへ伝えられたが，中国原産ではなく，日本産のものが中国を経てヨーロッパへ入ったものと考えられている。茎は木質化し，円柱形で細く硬く，高さ 50～60cmに達し，まばらに分枝する。葉は奇数羽状複葉で，小葉は3～5対あり，長楕円形で下面は白色を帯び毛がまばらに生える。夏に，葉腋から長さ 20cmもある大きな総状花序を上向きにつけ，紅色，まれに白色の蝶形花を多数つける。果実は円柱形の豆果で，熟すると莢が2つに裂ける。

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