Tab. 7883. 

 SOPHORA viciifolia. 



Native of China. 



Nat. Ord. LegumenoS;*:. — Tribe Sofhore«. 

 Genus Sophora, Linn. ; {Benth. Si HooJc.f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 555). 



Sopiiora (Ensophora) viciifolia; suffruticosa, spinosa, ramis glabris ramulis 

 petiolisqne appresse tomentellis, foliolis 6-7-jagis cum impari sesailibus 

 ? poll, longis ellipticis v. oblongo-obovatis obtusis apiculatis supra 

 glaberrimis subtus parce hirtellis, stipulis minutis tomentosis calloso- 

 mucronatis, racemis ramulos terminal] tibus erectis recurvisve breviter 

 pedunculitis foliis subasquilongis laxe 6-12-floris, floribus | poll, longis, 

 calyce violaceo pedicello sequilongo, cupulari suba?qualiter 5-dentato 

 pubescente albis, bracteis minutis, petalis subsequilongis, vexillo 

 spatbulato reflexo, carinas petalis basi auriculatis filamentorum 9, alte 

 connatis, carpellis nunc binis hirtellis, legumine aptero 1-2-pollicari 

 gracili moniliformi rostrato glaberrimo, articulis 3-5 interstitiis elongatis 

 valde constrictis, valvis membranaceis demum Hberis, seminibus \ poll, 

 longis oblongis flavo-brunneis. 



S. viciifolia, Hance in Joum. Bot. vol. xix. (1881) p. 209. Hemsl. in Jonrn. 

 Linn. Soc. Bot. vol. xxiii. (1887) p. 203. 



S. Moorcroftiana, Benth. var. Davidi, Fratich. PI. David, p. 101, t. 14. 



Sopiiora viciifolia is so very closely allied to S. Moor- 

 croftiana y Benth., a native of the dry Tibetan Western 

 Himalaya, at elevations of ten thousand to twelve 

 thousand feet, that it was referred by Franchet, as a 

 variety, to that species. It is, however, specifically very 

 different. S. Moorcroftiana having eleven to seventeen larger, 

 more tomentose and more obovate leaflets, terminated with 

 a long, stiff, awn -like mucro, a longer, narrower calyx, a 

 shorter, yellow corolla, and densely pubescent pods, with 

 seeds twice as large as those of S. viciifolia. The Chinese 

 plant was first described by the late Mr. Hance from 

 specimens collected in 1880 by Mr. T. Watters in the 

 Province of Hupeh, in the mountains of which province 

 it has since been found by Mr. Henry ; it is also a native 

 of Shensi, Yunnan, and Szecbuen, where it appears to be 

 common on the Tibet frontier, forming, according to Mr. 

 Pratt, large heaths, two to four feet high, in barren soils, 

 at an elevation of nine thousand to thirteen thousand five 

 hundred feet. 

 March 1st, 1903. 



