196 ARBORETUM ET FRUTiICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
Gen. Char. Calyx 5-toothed, campanulate at the base, or somewhat attenu- 
ated. Petals of the keel usually concrete at the apex. Legume somewhat 
moniliform, wingless, many-seeded. (Don’s Mill.) 
Leaves impari-pinnate, with 11—18 leaflets, generally exstipulate. Flowers 
yellow, white, or blue, in simple racemes, or panicles. —The only hardy 
species are deciduous trees, natives of Japan or China. 
¥ 1, S.sapo’ntca L. The Japan Sophora. 
Identification. Lin, Mant., 78. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 98.; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 109. 
Synonyme. S. sinica Roster Journ. Phys. 14. p. 248., Dec. Légum.t. 4. f. 1. 
Engravings. Red. in N. Du Ham., 3. t.21.; Dec. Légum,, t. 4. f.1.; the plate of this species in 
Arb, Brit. Ist edit., vol. v.; and our jig. 294, 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves pinnate, with 11—13 leaflets, which are oblong- 
ovate, acute, and smooth ; panicle loose, terminal; pods smooth. A de- 
ciduous tree of the middle size. Japan. Height 40 ft. to 50 ft. Intro- 
duced in 1763. - Flowers cream-coloured; August and September. Pods 
rarely produced in England. Decaying leaves yellow and green. Naked 
young wood dark green, like that of Jasminum officinale. 
Varieties. 
¥ S. 7. 2 variegdta Hort. has the leaves variegated, but is not worth 
cultivating as an ornamental plant. 
* S. 7. 3 péndula Hort., and the plate of this tree in our Ist edit. 
vol. v., 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 or 8 feet in one season. 
Grafted at the height of 10 or 20 feet or upwards, the shoots hang 
down, and form one of the most ornamental of pendulous trees, 
both in summer and winter. 
294, Sophdra japénica. 
fi 
a 
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, it grows with great ra- 
pidity, seedlings attaining the height of 10 or 12 feet in 4 or 5 years; and 
in 20 or 30 years, in the neighbourhood of London, 30 or 40 feet. 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. The wood is very hard and compact, as niuch s0, it is said, 
as that of the box. The bark exhales a strong odour, which, it is stated in 
the Nouveau Du Hamel, produces colic and purging on those who prune the 
