116 



THE ART ALBUM OF NEW ZEALAND FLORA. 



the branches will likewise destroy it. The Clianthus for its great beauty, deserves more 

 general attention at the hands of the settlers than is afforded it, and owing to its easy 

 cultivation, should he a prominent featui'e in their gardens, making the glad months of 

 spring gay with its rieh clusters of drooping crimson flowers. Oixr plate portrays 

 faithruUy all the characteristics of this charming shrub. 



GENUS V. 



SOPHORA {Linn.) The Sophora. 



Generic Chaeactee. — Small trees, or twiggy shrubs. 

 Leaflet in many pairs. Flowers, pendulous, large, yellow in 

 the New Zealand species. Calyx, rather inflated, ureeolale, 

 henus|)lu'rical, or campanulate ; mouth, oblique, obscurely 

 5-toothed. Star.dard, obovate, very broad, shortly clawed. 

 Wings, oblong, stipitate, sliorter than the straight obtuse keel. 



Stamens, 10, all free; ovary, stipitate, linear; style, slender, 

 slightly curved, glabrous ; stigma, minute ; ovules, numerous. 

 Pod, stipitate, elongate, moniliform, terete, angled or 4- winged, 

 indehiscent or 2-valved, few- or many-seeded. Seeds, oblong ; 

 funicle not thickened. — Handbook of the New Zealand Flora, 

 p. 52. 



Description, etc. — A very large genus widely spread through the tropical and 

 temperate regions of both the Old and the New Worlds. One of its species {SopJwra 

 tomentosa, a shrub of variable height) being found on the sea shores of Tropical Asia, 

 Africa, America, and Australia. The species are not numerous, but they dift'er greatly 

 in general appearance, some growing into trees of lai*ge size, while others are shrubs, 

 and one or two, herbaceous jjlants. All, however, agree in having pinnate leaves, with 

 usually opposite leaflets, and an odd one at the end. The flowers are pea-like, with a 

 rather broad standard. S. japonica is a very handsome tree, long ago introduced into 

 England from China. It is of quick growth, and forms a large round-headed tree, forty 

 feet high or more, with smooth dark-green branches, and graceful bluish-green pinnate 

 leaves, producing in the autumn at the points of the branches large, loosely-branching 

 panicles of small whitish or cream-coloured flowers. In China the flowers of this species 

 are used for dyeing a yellow colour, and are employed to give the fine yellow colovir to 

 the silk used for the garments of the INIandarins, and also for dyeing blue cloth, green. 

 All parts of this tree possess purgative properties, and it is said that even those who 

 merely prune it are affected, as also are turners, when employed upon its fine-grained, 

 hard wood. The genus is represented in New Zealand by S. tetraptera, and its varieties 

 small or middling-sized trees, variable in habit, foliage, and size of flower. The tree is 

 sometimes known as J^dioardsia gi'andiflora, its original specific name. 



