SOPHORA 



Sophora, Linnaeus, Gen. PL 125 (1737); Bentham et Hooker, Gen. PL i. 555 (1865). 



Trees, shrubs, or perennial herbs, with naked buds and imparipinnate leaves. 

 Flowers papilionaceous, in simple racemes or terminal leafy panicles. Calyx five- 

 toothed, imbricate. Stamens ten, not united together, or rarely sub-connate. Ovary 

 short-stalked, with many ovules. Pod moniliform, indehiscent, or tardily dehiscent. 



The name Sophora was taken by Linnaeus from the Arabic word Sophera, which 

 indicated some leguminous tree. The genus belongs to the tribe Sophorese (Natural 

 order Leguminosae, division Papilionaceae) characterised by imparipinnate leaves and 

 ten free stamens. There are about twenty-five species of Sophora, generally spread 

 throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the globe. The only 

 species of importance which attain to timber size are Sophora japonica and Sophora 

 platycarpa. Sophora macrocarpa from Chile and Sophora tetraptera from New Zealand 

 are shrubs or small trees, which are frequently cultivated in the southern counties of 

 England, and do not come within the scope of our work, although they are said to 

 attain a height of 50 feet in the wild state. 



Sophora platycarpa, Maximowicz, in Mel. Biol. ix. 70 (1873), [Fuj'i-ki in Japan), 

 only lately^ introduced into cultivation in England ; but in the United States, where 

 it has been grown for some time, it is said to have proved hardier than Sophora 

 Japonica."^ It is a tree of considerable size, occurring in woods in Japan on the side 

 of Fusiyama and in Nambu. It is similar in leaves and flowers to Sophora japonica; 

 and, as will be pointed out in our account of that species, has been probably confused 

 with it by writers on Japanese trees. The leaves are larger than in Sophora Japonica, 

 the leaflets being 2 to 3^ inches long, alternate, acuminate, glabrous or nearly so. 

 The flowers are ^ inch long, white, and loosely arranged. The main difference is in 

 the pod, which is membranous, flat, narrowly winged on each side, and irregularly 

 constricted.* 



' There are two plants at Kew which were raised from seeds obtained in 1896 from Spath of Berlin. See Mittheil. der 

 Deut. Dendr. Gesell. 1896, p. 27. 



' A. Rehder in Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, p. 1684 (1902). 



' Sophora shiiokiana, Makino, in Tokyo Botanical Magazine, 1900, p. 56 (Yuko-noki in Japan), is described as a species 

 closely allied to S. platycarpa, and as being widely distributed throughout the mountain districts of Japan. It is said to be a 

 tree of considerable size. 



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