SOPHORA
- Sophora, Linnæus, Gen. Pl. 125 (1737); Bentham et Hooker, Gen. Pl. i. 555 (1865).
Trees, shrubs, or perennial herbs, with naked buds and imparipinnate leaves. Flowers papilionaceous, in simple racemes or terminal leafy panicles. Calyx five-toothed, imbricate. Stamens ten, not united together, or rarely sub-connate. Ovary short-stalked, with many ovules. Pod moniliform, indehiscent, or tardily dehiscent.
The name Sophora was taken by Linnaeus from the Arabic word Sophera, which indicated some leguminous tree. The genus belongs to the tribe Sophoreæ (Natural order Leguminosæ, division Papilionaceæ) characterised by imparipinnate leaves and ten free stamens. There are about twenty-five species of Sophora, generally spread throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the globe. The only species of importance which attain to timber size are Sophora japonica and Sophora platycarpa. Sophora macrocarpa from Chile and Sophora tetraptera from New Zealand are shrubs or small trees, which are frequently cultivated in the southern counties of England, and do not come within the scope of our work, although they are said to attain a height of 50 feet in the wild state.
Sophora platycarpa, Maximowicz, in Mel. Biol. ix. 70 (1873), (Fuji-ki in Japan), only lately[1] introduced into cultivation in England; but in the United States, where it has been grown for some time, it is said to have proved hardier than Sophora japonica.[2] It is a tree of considerable size, occurring in woods in Japan on the side of Fusiyama and in Nambu. It is similar in leaves and flowers to Sophora japonica; and, as will be pointed out in our account of that species, has been probably confused with it by writers on Japanese trees. The leaves are larger than in Sophora Japonica, the leaflets being 2 to 3½ inches long, alternate, acuminate, glabrous or nearly so. The flowers are ½ inch long, white, and loosely arranged. The main difference is in the pod, which is membranous, flat, narrowly winged on each side, and irregularly constricted.[3]
- ↑ There are two plants at Kew which were raised from seeds obtained in 1896 from Späth of Berlin. See Mittheil. der Deut. Dendr. Gesell. 1896, p. 27.
- ↑ A. Rehder in Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, p. 1684 (1902).
- ↑ Sophora shikokiana, Makino, in Tokyo Botanical Magazine, 1900, p. 56 (Yuko-noki in Japan), is described as a species closely allied to S. platycarpa, and as being widely distributed throughout the mountain districts of Japan. It is said to be a tree of considerable size.
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