564 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



S.^;'. 3 pendula 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 in the 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, fyc. This is a round-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 10ft. or 12ft. 

 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 

 General des Eaux et Forets, 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 Pseud-Jcacia 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 Robim'a 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 Leguminaceae 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 Robim/z 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 Leguminaceae. The same remark holds good in 



