542 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



poisonous. The taste of the plant is rather disagreeable, and it is not generally 

 eaten by stock. 



5. Sophora L. 



Shrubby or herbaceous perennials ; leaves odd pinnate with numerous leaflets ; 

 flowers white, yellow or violet in terminal racemes or panicles; calyx bell- 

 shaped, with short teeth, standard rounded or obovate; wings obliquely oblong; 

 keel oblong, nearly straight; stamens all distinct or nearly so; pistil short- 

 stalked ; style incurved ; pod stalked and terete, constricted between the seeds. 

 About 25 species, of warm and tropical regions. 



Sophora sericea Nutt. Silky Sophora 



A low perennial herb from 6-12 inches high, more or less silky canescent; 

 stipules subulate, deciduous, leaflets about 21, elliptical or cuneate oval; flowers 

 in short terminal racemes; nearly sessile; corolla white, pod dry, leathery, finely 

 pubescent and few seeded. 



Distribution. The prairies of Nebraska and Colorado to Texas and Arizona. 



Poisonous properties. Mr. Chesnut says of this plant: 



The silky sophora, of the Southern Great Plains region, has been somewhat vaguely 

 reported as one of the plants that "loco" horses in that region. The seeds contain a very 

 poisonous alkaloid. 



Fig. 299. Silky Sophora (Sophora 

 sericea). A plant of the plains and 

 thought to be poisonous. (Charlotte 

 M. King.) 



Sophora secundiflora DC. Coral Bean 



A stout shrub or small tree, with deep green leaves of about 9 elliptical, 

 oblong, obtuse, coriaceous leaflets; terminal racemes of showy violet, fragrant 

 flowers; and large, woody pods 3-5 inches long, containing 3-4 round red beans 

 as large as small marbles. 



