Sophora

Sophora
Sophora tetraptera flowers and leaves
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Subfamily: Faboideae Tribe: Sophoreae Genus: Sophora
Species
About 60-70 species; see text:

Sophora is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are native to southeast Europe, southern Asia, Australasia, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and western South America.

The genus formerly had a broader interpretation including many other species now treated in other genera, notably Styphnolobium (pagoda tree genus), which differs in lacking nitrogen fixing bacteria (rhizobia) on the roots, and Calia (the mescalbeans). Styphnolobium has galactomannans as seed polysaccharide reserve, in contrast Sophora contains arabino-galactans, and Calia amyloid.

The New Zealand Sophora species are known as Kowhai.

The Toromiro (Sophora toromiro) was formerly a common tree in the forests of Easter Island. The tree fell victim to the deforestation that eliminated the island's forests by the 18th century, and later became extinct in the wild. The tree is being reintroduced to the island in a scientific project partly led jointly by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Göteborg Botanical Garden, where the only remaining plants of this species with a documented origin were propagated in the 1960s from seeds collected by Thor Heyerdahl.

Sophora macrocarpa is a Chilean Matorral small tree native from Chile, called Mayo or Mayú.

Selected species

• Sophora albescens (Rehder) C.Y.Ma
• Sophora alopecuroides L. - Sophora Root
• Sophora cassioides (Phil.) Sparre or Sophora macnabiana Skottsb.- Pelu (Chile)
• Sophora chathamica Cockayne - Coastal Kowhai (New Zealand)
• Sophora chrysophylla (Salisb.)Seem. - Mamane
• Sophora davidii (Franch.) Skeels
• Sophora fernandeziana (Phil.)Skottsb. - (Juan Fernández Islands)
• Sophora flavescens Aiton
• Sophora fulvida (Allan)Heenan & de Lange - Waitakere Kowhai (New Zealand)
• Sophora godleyi - Godley Kowhai, Papa Kowhai (New Zealand)
• Sophora howinsula (Oliv.) P. S. Green
• Sophora inhambanensis Klotzsch
• Sophora koreensis Nakai
• Sophora lehmannii (Bunge)Kuntze
• Sophora longicarinata - Kowhai (New Zealand)
• Sophora masafuerana Skottsb. - (Juan Fernández Islands)
• Sophora macrocarpa Sm. - (Chile)

S.macrocarpa "mayu"

• Sophora microphylla Aiton - Small-leaved Kowhai (New Zealand)
• Sophora mollis (Royle) Graham ex Baker
• Sophora molloyi - Cook Strait Kowhai (New Zealand)
• Sophora moorcroftiana Benth.
• Sophora nuttalliana B. L. Turner
• Sophora pachycarpa Schrenk ex C. A. Mey.
• Sophora prostrata Buchanan - Dwarf Kowhai, Prostrate Kowhai (New Zealand)
• Sophora tetraptera J.F.Muell. - Large-leaved Kowhai, Taupo Kowhai (New Zealand)
• Sophora tomentosa L. - Necklace Pod, Mamane (Pantropical coastal)
• Sophora tonkinensis Gagnep.
• Sophora toromiro Skottsb.- Toromiro (Easter Island)
• Sophora velutina Lindl.
• Sophora violacea Thwaites

References and external links

• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Sophora
• Sophora macrocarpa pictures from Chilebosque
• Heenan P.B, de Lange P.J, Wilton A.D. (2001) "Sophora (Fabaceae) in New Zealand: taxonomy, distrubution and biogeography." New Zealand Journal of Botany. 39: 17-53 on line

Donate to Wikimedia