Akebia longeracemosa

One of my all time favourite climbers

Akebia longeracemosa is a species closely related to Akebia quinata but to my eyes, ten times more beautiful because of the clue in its name. Long pendulous racemes of spring flowers hanging down like mini Wisteria flowers.

A raceme is a flower stem with lots of small flowers on stalks coming off of it. If the individual flowers are closer to the stem, as on a foxglove, it’s called a spike. Whereas if each side stalk has multiple flowers, it’s known in botany as a panicle.