Caspar Wistar (physician)
Caspar Wistar was an American physician and anatomist. He is sometimes referred to as Caspar Wistar the Younger, to distinguish him from his grandfather of the same name. The plant genus Wisteria is named for him.
Caspar Wistar
Bones of the prehistoric giant ground sloth Megalonyx, described in a 1799 paper for the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society by Wistar. These were the first fossils illustrated from the United States.
Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae). The genus includes four species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north of Iran. They were later introduced to France, Germany and various other countries in Europe. Some species are popular ornamental plants. The genus name is also used as the English name, and may then be spelt 'wistaria'. In some countries in Western and Central Europe, Wisteria is also known by a variant spelling of the genus in which species were formerly placed, Glycine. Examples include the French glycines, the German Glyzinie, and the Polish glicynia.
Wisteria
Seeds and seedpods of Wisteria floribunda (Japanese wisteria). The seeds of all Wisteria species contain high levels of the wisterin toxin and are especially poisonous.
W. floribunda at Ashikaga Flower Park (ja) in Ashikaga, Tochigi, Japan. The largest wisteria in Japan, it is dated to c. 1870 and covered approximately 1,990 square metres (21,400 sq ft) as of May 2008[update].
Wisteria at Nymans Gardens (West Sussex, England)