The African Wisteria Tree, Bolusanthus speciosus, is an amazingly beautiful small tree for warm, frost-free gardens.
It is a briefly deciduous, slow-growing tree that eventually reaches 20 to 25 feet in height, usually with multiple stems that have rough gray-brown bark that is deeply fissured.
The flowers are held are in pendulous trusses much like those of a wisteria that can completely cover the tree and are followed by grayish pods.
Plant in full sun and water occasionally – tolerates some drought conditions and is hardy to a moderate frost once woody stems have developed.
The tree wisteria is considered one the most spectacular of the South African trees, looking much like a jacaranda in full splendor when in bloom.
An older tree is located on the campus of the University of Arizona and it is recommended by the National Botanic Garden of South Africa for its beauty and because it reportedly has a non-invasive root system.
It is widespread in wooded grasslands in southern Africa, from as far north as Angola and Zambia down to KwaZulu-Natal in the south.
The genus honors both the person who first described it, Harry Bolus (1834 -1911).