specimen, which is about 30 feet high with a stem a foot in diameter, bearing a large roundish crown like the common Sophora. In the absence of flowers or fruit, it is impossible to say whether it is a distinct species; but in foliage and other characters it differs so little from Sophora japonica, that probably Zabel[1] is correct in considering it to be only a form of that species. It seems to be well worth cultivation, judging from the vigorous growth and dense foliage of the fine specimen at Segrez.
Var. violacea.—This variety has also whitish pubescence on the shoots, petiole, and under surfaces of the leaflets, which are longish, with an acute or acuminate apex. The flowers are violet according to Dieck.[2] It does not appear to be in cultivation in England.
I incline to the belief that we have in these forms to deal with only two varieties of Sophora japonica, which is a widely spread species, and presents considerable variation in pubescence and in colour of the flowers in China.
Var. oligophylla, Franchet.[3]—This is a curious variety found by Père David at a tomb near Peking, where he observed two trees. The leaflets are very few in number, three or four, and the end one is trilobed; they are thicker in texture and more glaucous than is ordinarily the case. This variety would be well worth introduction.
Distribution and History
Sophora japonica, in spite of its name, does not appear to be really wild in Japan, although it is recorded from that country by Franchet[4] and Matsumura.[5] Shirasawa,[6] the latest Japanese authority, says it is planted around habitations in both the sub-tropical and temperate regions of Japan, and that it was introduced from China. Sargent[7] observes: "Even Rein (The Industries of Japan), usually a most careful observer, states that 'Sophora japonica is scattered throughout the entire country, especially in the foliaceous forests of the north.' He had evidently confounded Sophora with Maackia,[8] a common and widely spread tree, especially in Yezo. Sophora, which is only seen occasionally in gardens, does not appear to be a particularly popular tree with the Japanese." The Kew Herbarium specimens from Japan are from gardens near Nagasaki, no wild specimens having been ever received.
Sophora japonica is undoubtedly a native of China, and it is recorded from nearly all the provinces where Europeans have made botanical collections; but of its occurrence as a forest tree there is little information. It appears to be really wild in the province of Chihli. I have never seen it in the numerous mountain forests which I visited in Central China or Yunnan; and it is difficult to decide whether the trees seen at lower levels, where cultivation has been going on for centuries, are wild or planted. It has a wide range as a cultivated plant in China, as it flourishes from Pekin to Hongkong and from Shanghai to Yunnan.
- ↑ See note 5 supra.
- ↑ Köhne, loc. cit.
- ↑ Franchet, Plantæ Davidianæ, i. 100 (1884).
- ↑ Franchet et Savatier, Enum. Plant. in Japonia, i. 115.
- ↑ Matsumura, Shokubutsu-mei-i, 279 (1895).
- ↑ Shirasawa, loc. cit., Text, i. 86. The tree is called Enju in Japan.
- ↑ Sargent, Forest Flora of Japan, I.
- ↑ Maackia is another name for Cladrastis amurensis; but it is possible that the tree confused with Sophora japonica in Japan is Sophora platycarpa, Maxim, which is very similar to it in foliage. Dupont, Les Essences Forestières du Japon, p. 66, gives a very complete account of the wood and the uses of a forest tree in Japan, which he considered to be Sophora japonica; but as it is evidently not that species, and as it is uncertain whether he referred to Sophora platycarpa or Cladrastis amurensis, I have not quoted his description.
