564 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
¥ S.j. 3 péndula Hort., has pendulous shoots, and is a very remarkable 
variety. Grafted near the ground, the shoots run along the surface, 
like those of a trailing plant, to a very great distance from the main 
stem; in good soil, a shoot extending itself 6 ft. or 8 ft. in one sea- 
son. Grafted at the height of 10 ft. or 20 ft., the shoots hang down, 
and form one of the most ornamental of pendulous trees, both in sum- 
mer and winter. There are specimens inthe Horticultural Society’s 
Garden, and in Knight’s Exotic Nursery, King’s Road, Chelsea. 
Our engraving of this tree in Vol. II. was taken from the former 
specimen. The bright smooth green of the branches renders this 
variety truly ornamental, even when deprived of its leaves. 
Description, &c. This isaround-headed tree, readily distinguished in winter 
by the fine, smooth, dark green bark of its young wood and smaller branches ; 
and, in summer, by the dark blue green of its foliage. In deep free soil, this 
tree grows with great rapidity, seedlings attaining the height of 10 ft. or 12 ft. 
in 4 or 5 years; and in 20 or 30 years, in the neighbourhood of London, that 
of 30ft. or 40ft. In France, near Paris, there are trees of the height of 
60 ft. The sophora is one of the few trees that were introduced into France 
before they found their way into England. In 1747, Father d’Incarville 
sent seedlings of this tree to Bernard De Jussieu, at Paris, who sowed the 
seeds, and distributed the plants. In 1763, it is recorded, as having been 
cultivated in the Mile End Nursery, by Gordon, who probably received it 
from Jussieu. In 1779, a tree in the garden of M. De Noailles, at St. Ger- 
main en Laye, flowered for the first time in France; and soon afterwards 
seed was ripened in abundance, from which the nurseries of Europe have 
been supplied with plants. There are large specimens in England, which 
flower freely ; but they have never yet ripened seeds: indeed, the tree ripens 
seeds in France only in the very warmest seasons. 
Properties and Uses. The wood is very hard and compact, as much so, it is 
said, as that of the box. The bark exhales a strong odour, which, it is stated in 
the Nouveau Du Hamel, has a remarkable effect on those who prune the tree, or 
otherwise work with the wood in a green state. This was first discovered 
by a turner, who, while at work on a piece of wood newly taken from the 
tree, was seized with the colic, which obliged him to leave off. The follow- 
ing morning he resumed his work ; and the same thing having happened to 
him again, he sent for a neighbouring turner, and afterwards for two others, 
who were all alike seized with colic, and violently purged. It appears, 
however, that the Chinese, who employ the wood in a dried state, suffer no 
inconvenience from it. It is somewhat remarkable, that, in the Dictionnaire 
Général des Eaux et Foréts, where the sophora is treated on at considerable 
length, and a long extract is made from a pamphlet published on the subject 
by M. Guerrapain, no notice is taken of this singular property. In that pam- 
phlet, the sophora is mentioned as rivalling the Robinia Psetd-Acacia in the 
robustness of its habit, and rapidity of its growth; and as surpassing it in 
durability, and in suitableness for culture in arable lands, from its roots 
being chiefly of the descending kind; while those of the Robinia extend 
themselves horizontally near the surface. Little appears to be known of the 
uses of the tree in China and Japan; but it is said that the fruit is employed 
to dye a fine yellow; and the flowers for dyeing a yellow of so superior a 
hue, that it is exclusively reserved for dyeing stuffs to be worn by the mem- 
bers of the imperial family. In Britain, the tree can only be considered as 
ornamental ; and, in that respect, none of the arboreous Leguminacee are 
equal to it in beauty of foliage and bark. Its flowers, when they are pro- 
duced, are also in large terminal compound spikes, and very conspicuous, 
though much smaller than those of the Robinia viscosa. One remarkable 
property in the foliage of the sophora is, that the very hottest and driest 
seasons do not turn it pale, or cause it to drop off, as heat does that of most 
of the other pinnated-leaved Leguminicez. The same remark holds good in 
