SOPHORA. 



Indies, on fandy or rocky lea-coafts. Riimphius defcribes it 

 as about the fize of a Privet-bufti, but with a thicker trunk. 

 He fays there are feven, eight, or nine pair of leaflets, be- 

 fides an odd one ; dark green above ; downy and grey be- 

 neath ; hardly two inches long, about one broad. Linnseus 

 defcribes feven fmooth leaflets in all. T\\s Jloiuers are yel- 

 lowifh. Legumes beaded. Having feen no fpecimen, we 

 forbear all further defcription ; only excluding, without 

 hefitation, the Fruticulus Jtnenjts, ferns fyhejlris folio, &c. 

 Pluk. Ainalth. append, t. 451. f. 10. (See the next 

 fpecies.) The root and feeds of the plant of Rumphins are 

 celebrated by him as inellimable remedies for dangerous 

 bilious colics. 



3. S. japonka. Japanefe Sophora. Linn. Mant. 68. 

 Willd. n. 7. Ait. n. 2. Thunb. Jap. 178. Andr. 

 Repof. t. 585. Jacq. Hort. Schoenbr. v. 3. 55. t. 353. — 

 Stem arboreous. Leaflets ovato-lanceolate, acute, fmooth. 

 Clufters Compound, panicled. — Native of Japan and China. 

 Introduced by the celebrated cultivator Mr. James Gordon, 

 in 1753. It has been nearly as long cultivated about Paric, 

 where it was called I'arbre inconnu des Chinois, This is a 

 tall and handfome hardy deciduous tree, with elegant, 

 fmooth, pinnate leaves, whofe leajlels are about an inch and 

 a half long, and half an inch broad, acutely pointed. 

 Flowers fmaller than thofe of Laburnum, of a pale greenilh- 

 yellow, almoll white, compofing numerous, branched, 

 fpreading chijlers, collefted into large, terminal, upright 

 panicles. Legumes pendulous, tvro or three inches long, 

 turgid, fmooth. By Jacquin's figure the withered Jlamens 

 feem permanent. Perhaps Plukenet's Amalth. t. 451. 

 f. 10, cited with doubt by Linnasus for 5. heptaphylla, may 

 belong to this. 



4. S. alopecuroldes. Fox-tail Sophora. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 533. Willd. n. 4. Ait. n. 3. (Glycirrhiza filiquis no- 

 dofis, quafi articulatis ; Buxb. Cent. 3. 25. t. 46. Ervum 

 orientale alopecuroides perenne, fruftu longiffimo ; Dill. 

 Ellh. 136. C. 112. f. 136.) — Stem herbaceous. Leaflets 

 elliptic-oblong, obtufe ; fomewhat filky beneath, when full 

 grown. — Native of the Levant, hardy in our gardens, where 

 it was cultivated in the days of Miller and Sherard, flower- 

 ing in July and Augult. The root is perennial, creeping 

 extenl'ively. Stems annual, herbaceous, fimple, leafy, about 

 two feet high. Leaflets numerous, about an inch long, 

 green, Iparingly pubefcent. Clujlers fimple, fohtary at the 

 top of each item, without much of an elongated ftalk, com- 

 pofed of numerous, pale, greenifh-white, fweet-fcented 

 flotvers, larger than thofe of the common Galega offdnalis. 



Calyx nearly fmooth. Legurne fleiider, fomewhat filky. 

 DiUenius noticed the ten ^\^\n&.flamens ; and he allerts that 

 to make the plant flower freely, the roots muft be confined 

 in a pot. 



5. S. Jlavefcens. Siberian Sophora. Ait. ed. I. v. 2. 

 43. cd. 2. n. 4. Willd. n. 3. — " Stem herbaceous. Leaf- 

 lets ovate-oblong, nearly fmooth." — Native of Siberia ; in- 

 troduced here in 1785, by Mr. John Bell. A hardy peren- 

 nial, flowering from May to July. We have feen no 

 fpecimen. Willdcnow fays it is like the preceding, but 

 entirely fmooth. Leaflets fix pair, with an odd one, ovato- 



• lanceolate, bluntiih. Calyx obfcurely toothed. Mr. Salif- 

 bury recommends the leparation of thefe two lall from 

 Sophora, on account of their permanent Jamens ; but it 

 fccms to us that 5. japonica connects them witli the original 

 fpecies, both by that charafter, and (omcwhat of habit, or 

 afpeif. 



Sedlion 2. Clujlers lateral, jhorter than the leaves. 



6. S- macrocarpa. Great-lceded Sophora. — Leaflets 

 elliptic-oblong, nearly fnoooth. Clutlers axillary, very 



fliort. Legume filky, two-edged, tumid, without wiilgs.— 

 Native of Chili, where it is commonly known by the name 

 of Mayo. We received fine fpecimens from the late abbe 

 Cavanilles, in 1804. The Jlem is arboreous. Branches 

 roundifli, knotty ; filky when young. Leaves deciduous, 

 about a finger's length, compofed ot from fix to nine pair 

 of, not exaftly oppofite, obtufe, rigid leaflets, three quar- 

 ters of an inch long, befides an odd one, all green ; fliining, 

 and fparingly downy, above ; paler, and rather filky, be- 

 neath. Clujlers towards the ends of the branches, axillary, 

 fimple, compofed of four or five large yeWow Jlowers, whofe 

 partial (talks are about the length of the common one, all 

 filky, as well as the calyx. Stamens occafionally permanent. 

 Legume from three to five inches long ; when voung com- 

 prefled, two-edged, and finely filky ; where the feeds ripen, 

 they form large oval fwellings, almolt as big as a buUace 

 plum, partly deprived of their downinefs, and marked with 

 a flight ridge along each fide, as in 5. tomentofa, but quite 

 dellitute of angles, wings, or other inequalities. In in- 

 florefcence, habit, and afpeft of the Jloiuers, this fpecies 

 accords exaftly with all the following ones, while its legume 

 is that of the, original Sophone. We conceive, therefore, 

 that it overfets the genus Edwardjia, to which, if that 

 genus exifts at all, the prefent plant mould belong, and yet 

 its legume is neither quadrangular nor winged, nor is there 

 any charafter in the fruftification at all different from 

 Sophora. 



7. S. nitida. Silky-leaved Sophora. — Leaflets elliptic- 

 oblong, filky on both fides. Clufters axillary, very fliort. 

 Legume hairy, with four prominent angles. — Gathered by 

 Commerfon, in the ifle de Bourbon. An elegant filky 



Jlirub or tree. Leaves two or three inches long, compofed 

 of from eight to twelve pair of lenjlcts, half the fize of the 

 laft, beautifully filky, as well as their ftalks; brighter be- 

 neath. The Jloivers are pall in our fpecimen ; their Jlalks 

 are much like the laft, but more hairy, with larger, more 

 permanent, oppofite bradeas. Half-ripe legumes about 

 four inches long, rather flcnder, beaded, their four thick 

 prominent angles much more hairy than the intcrllices, 

 which ftiould feem to become quite fmooth as the oval parts, 

 cnclofing the feeds, are more enlarged. 



8. S. tetraptera. Four-winged Sophora. Ait. ed. i. 

 V. 2. 43. Willd. n. I. J. Mill. Ic. t. I. Curt. Mag. 

 t. 167. Lamarck f. 3. Roem. and Uft. Mag. fafc. 12. 

 t. I. (Edwardfia grandiflora ; Salif. Tr. of Linn. Soc. 

 V. 9. 299. Alt. Hort. Kew. V. 3. i.) — Leaflets elhptic- 

 oblong, filky on both fides. Clufters lateral. Legume 

 flightly hairy, with four membranous crenate wings. — Dif- 

 covered in New Zealand, by fir Jofepli Banks, and brought 

 in 1772 to this country, where it thrives well againft a foiith 

 or weft wall, in the open air, with only the protcAion of a 

 mat in winter, flowering about Mayor June. Few flirubi 

 are more ornamental. The filky leaves are much like the laft, 

 but rather larger. Flotvers about fix together, in filky- 

 (lalked, drooping clufters ; each JJoiver near two inches 

 long. The brown Jlalls and calyx are ftrikingly contrailed 

 with the golden petals, whofe ftandard is fliorter, and of a 

 fuller yellow, than the reft. Legume three or four inches 

 long, each tumid part, where a feed is lodged, bordered, 

 at each fide of the future, with two parallel wings, the 

 whole legume being lomcwhat comprefled, and not uni- 

 formly winged in four dinftions, like that of Loliis telra- 

 gonolobus. The bafe or tube of the calyx is, in this Ipectes 

 broader, or more dilated, tlian in moft of the reft, befides 

 having ten ribs. But we find it prccifely analogous to the 

 fame part in .?. tomentofa, and others, where it always has 

 a difl'ercnt colour, texture, or appearance, from the limb. 



9. S. 



