122 XXIII. LEGITMINOSAE. [Sophora. 



* D. Lablab, L., Sjj. PL 725. Stems slender, much branched from the base, 

 twining, glabrate or puberulous. Stipules very small. Leaflets stipellate, rhomboid 

 or ovate-acuminate. Peduncles 2-5-flo-wered, exceeding the leaves. Flowers shortly 

 pedicelled, almost umbellate. Calyx-teeth very short. Pods flattened, falcate, 3-5- 

 seeded ; seeds mottled. 



NOETH Island : on the sites o£ deserted homesteads from Auckland to Wellington. Not 

 naturalised. Oct. to Feb. East Indies. 



8. SOPHORA, Linn. 



Calyx gamosepalouSj campanulate^ inflated ; limb oblique^ obscurely 5- 



toothed. Standard broadly obovate, shortly clawed ; wings oblong, shorter than 



the keel. Stamens 10, perigynous, all free. Ovary stipitate, linear; style slender, 



glabrous ; stigma minute ; ovules few or many. Pod stipitate, moniliforra, 



interrupted, terete, 4- winged or -angled, indehiscent or 3-valved. Seeds few or 



many. Trees, shrubs, or rarely herbs. Leaves exstipulate, unequally pinnate. 



Flowers in pendulous axillary racemes. 



Species, about 25. Distributed through the warmer regions of the earth from Japan to Chili 

 and New Zealand. 



1. S. tetraptera, /. Mill., Ic. PI. t. i. A shrub or small tree, 30ft.-40ft. 

 high ; trunk 6in.— 24in. in diameter. Branches in young plants slender, flexuous, 

 and often interlaced ; in mature state straight and more or less clothed with 

 fulvous tomentum. Leaves unequally pinnate, lin.— 7in. long; leaflets in from 

 4—40 pairs, sessile or shortly petiolulate, silky or hairy, orbicular obcordate or 

 linear-oblong. Flowers large, yellow, pendulous. Racemes 2— 8-flowered. Pe- 

 duncles short. Calyx inflated, obscurely and unequally 5-toothed ; mouth 

 oblique. Standard broadly obovate, scarcely refle.xed, obtuse. Stamens free, 

 exceeding the keel. Ovary stipitate, silky ; style long, slender. Pod monili- 

 form, interrupted, the margins produced into 4 narrow longitudinal wings, 

 scarcely dehiscent. Seeds 3—7. — Gr. Forst., Prod. n. 183 ; L. f ., Supp. 230 ; 

 Hook.'f., Handbk. N.Z. Fl. 53. 



Also in South Chili and Juan Fernandez, Easter Island, and Lord Howe Island. Kowhai. 

 Aug., Sept. 



A variable plant. The leaves and flowers of vars. grancliflora and microphylla present several 

 points of difference, and the pods of the former are more robust than those of the latter. 



Var. grancliflora. Leaflets in 10-25 pairs, linear-oblong, entire or eraarginate. Flowers 

 large, deeply coloured. Standard one-fourth shorter than the wings, slightly but obviously refiexed. 

 Pods more robust than in var. microphylla. — Hook, f., Handbk. 53 ; T. Kirk, Forest Fl. N.Z. t. 50. 

 S. tetraptera, Curt., Bot. Mag. t. 167; Banks and Sol. IISS. Edioardsia grandiflora, Salisb., 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. ix. 299; DC, Prod. ii. 97; A. Rich., PI. N.Z. 344; A. Gunn., Precurs. n. 571 ; 

 Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 52. NORTH Island : from the East Cape district southwards ; chiffly on the 

 eastern side and in the centrp of the Island. SOUTH Island: said to occur at Banks Peninsula, 

 /. B. Armstrong, and in Otagn, Lindsay, but I have not seen South Island specimens. Sea-level to 

 1,500ft. 



Var. microphylla. Leaflets in 25-40 pairs, orbicular, shortly oblong or obovate. Standard 

 equalling the wings or nearly, not rt;flexed, narrower than in var, grandiflora. Stamens exserted, — 

 Hook, f., Handbk. 53 ; T. Kirk, Forest PI. N.Z. t. 51. S. microphylla. Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 1, vii. 42 ; 

 Curt;, Bot. Mag. t. 1442 ; Banks and Sol. MSS. Edwardsia grandiflora, var. microphylla. Hook, t., 

 Fl. N.Z. i. 52. E. microphylla, Salisb., Trans. Linn. Soc. ix. 299 ; DC, Prod. ii. 97 ; A. Rich., PI. 

 N.Z. 344 ; A. Cunn., Precurs. n. 570. E. Macnabiana, Curt., Bot. Mag. t. 3735. NORTH and 

 SOUTH Islands: Mongonui to Southland. Sea-level to fully 2,000ft. 



