Sophora is a
genusIn biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of about 45 species of small
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s and
shrubA shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s in the subfamily
FaboideaeFaboideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. One acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae....
of the
peaA pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
family,
FabaceaeThe Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...
. The species are native to southeast
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, southern
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
,
AustralasiaAustralasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
, various
islandsThe Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
in the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, western
South AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the western
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the Southern US state of
FloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. The generic name is derived from sophera, an
ArabicArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
name for a pea-flowered tree.
The genus formerly had a broader interpretation including many other species now treated in other genera, notably
StyphnolobiumStyphnolobium is a small genus of three or four species of small trees and shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, formerly included within a broader interpretation of the genus Sophora. The species of Styphnolobium differ from Sophora in lacking the ability to form symbioses...
(
pagoda treeStyphnolobium japonicum Schott , the Pagoda Tree is a species of small tree or shrub in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae....
genus), which differs in lacking
nitrogen fixingNitrogen fixation is the natural process, either biological or abiotic, by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia . This process is essential for life because fixed nitrogen is required to biosynthesize the basic building blocks of life, e.g., nucleotides for DNA and RNA and...
bacteria (
rhizobiaRhizobia are soil bacteria that fix nitrogen after becoming established inside root nodules of legumes . Rhizobia require a plant host; they cannot independently fix nitrogen...
) on the roots, and Calia (the mescalbeans).
Styphnolobium has
galactomannanGalactomannans are polysaccharides consisting of a mannose backbone with galactose side groups Galactomannans are polysaccharides consisting of a mannose backbone with galactose side groups Galactomannans are polysaccharides consisting of a mannose backbone with galactose side groups (more...
s as seed
polysaccharidePolysaccharides are long carbohydrate molecules, of repeated monomer units joined together by glycosidic bonds. They range in structure from linear to highly branched. Polysaccharides are often quite heterogeneous, containing slight modifications of the repeating unit. Depending on the structure,...
reserve, in contrast Sophora contains
arabinogalactanArabinogalactan is a biopolymer consisting of arabinose and galactose monosaccharides. Two classes of arabinogalactans are found in nature: plant arabinogalactan and microbial arabinogalactan. In plants, it is a major constituent of many gums, including gum arabic, gum gutti and so on...
s, and Calia
amyloidAmyloids are insoluble fibrous protein aggregates sharing specific structural traits. Abnormal accumulation of amyloid in organs may lead to amyloidosis, and may play a role in various neurodegenerative diseases.-Definition:...
.
The
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Sophora species are known as
KowhaiKowhai are small, woody legume trees in the genus Sophora native to New Zealand. There are eight species, S. microphylla being the most common. Kowhai trees grow throughout the country and are a common feature in New Zealand gardens. Outside of New Zealand, Kowhai tend to be restricted to mild...
.
The
ToromiroSophora toromiro, commonly known as Toromiro, is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to Easter Island. Heavy deforestation had eliminated most of the island's forests by the first half of the 17th century , and the once common toromiro became rare and...
(Sophora toromiro) was formerly a common tree in the forests of
Easter IslandEaster Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
. The tree fell victim to the deforestation that eliminated the island's forests by the 18th century, and later became
extinct in the wildExtinct in the Wild is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa, the only known living members of which are being kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range.-Examples:...
. The tree is being reintroduced to the island in a scientific project partly led jointly by the
Royal Botanic Gardens, KewThe Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
and the
Göteborg Botanical GardenThe Gothenburg Botanical Garden is located in Gothenburg, Sweden, and one of the leading botanical gardens in Europe.-History:It was planned by the city council, created thanks to generous donors, and inaugurated in 1923 when Gothenburg celebrated its 300th anniversary.One of the prominent...
, where the only remaining plants of this species with a documented origin were propagated in the 1960s from seeds collected by
Thor HeyerdahlThor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands...
.
Mayo or Mayú (Sophora macrocarpa) is a small tree that inhabits the
Chilean MatorralThe Chilean Matorral is a terrestrial ecoregion of central Chile, located on the west coast of South America. It is in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, part of the Neotropic ecozone....
.
Selected species
- Sophora albescens (Rehder
Alfred Rehder was a horticulturist and taxonomist who worked at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Rehder was a newspaper writer from Germany who was originally hired as a laborer at the Arnold Arboretum. His talents for horticultural plant taxonomy were soon recognized, however...
) C.Y.Ma
- Sophora alopecuroides L. – Sophora Root
- Sophora cassioides
Sophora cassioides is legume tree native to Chile.-Taxonomy:Sophora cassioides has been considered in earlier treatment as S.macnabiana or as subspecies of S.microphylla Ait. and even as part of the large-leaved kowhai S.tetraptera J.F.Mill. Sophora cassioides(syn S. macnabiana (Grah.)Skottsb.) is...
(Phil.Rodolfo Amando Philippi was a German-Chilean paleontologist and zoologist....
) Sparre – Pelú (ChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
)
- Sophora chathamica Cockayne
Leonard Cockayne FRS is regarded as New Zealand's greatest botanist and a founder of modern science in New Zealand.-Biography:He was born in Sheffield, England where he attended Wesley College...
– Coastal Kowhai (New Zealand)
- Sophora chrysophylla (Salisb.
Richard Anthony Salisbury FRS was a British botanist. While he is remembered as a valuable worker in horticultural and botanical sciences, several bitter disputes caused him to be ostracised by his contemporaries.-Life:...
) Seem.Berthold Carl Seemann 25 February 1825 Hanover, Germany - 10 October 1871 Nicaragua, Central America, was a German botanist. He travelled widely and collected and described plants from the Pacific and South America....
– Māmane (HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
)
- Sophora davidii Kom.ex Pavol.
- Sophora fernandeziana
Sophora fernandeziana is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands of Chile. It is threatened by habitat loss....
(Phil.) Skottsb.Carl Johan Fredrik Skottsberg was a Swedish botanist and explorer of Antarctica.Skottsberg was born in Karlshamn, began his academic studies at Uppsala University in 1898 and received his doctorate and a docentship there in 1907...
(Juan Fernández IslandsThe Juan Fernández Islands are a sparsely inhabited island group reliant on tourism and fishing in the South Pacific Ocean, situated about off the coast of Chile, and is composed of three main volcanic islands; Robinson Crusoe Island, Alejandro Selkirk Island and Santa Clara Island, the first...
)
- Sophora flavescens
Sophora flavescens is a species of plant in the genus Sophora. Ku shen or kushenin is a typical traditional Chinese medicine that is found in this plant...
AitonWilliam Aiton was a Scottish botanist.Aiton was born near Hamilton. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to London in 1754, and became assistant to Philip Miller, then superintendent of the Chelsea Physic Garden...
– Ku Shen (Eastern Asia)
- Sophora fulvida (Allan) Heenan & de Lange – Waitakere Kowhai (New Zealand)
- Sophora godleyi – Godley Kowhai, Papa Kowhai (New Zealand)
- Sophora howinsula (Oliv.
Daniel Oliver, FRS was a British botanist.He was Librarian of the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1860–1890 and Keeper there from 1864–1890, and Professor of Botany at University College, London from 1861–1888....
) P.S.Green
- Sophora inhambanensis Klotzsch
Johann Friedrich Klotzsch was a German pharmacist and botanist.His principal work was in the field of mycology, with the study and description of many species of mushroom.-Selected works:...
- Sophora koreensis Nakai
was a Japanese botanist.-External links:* * * by Yong Shik Kim and Mike Maunder from CURTIS'S Botanical Magazine, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. Vol. 15: 141-146, 1998....
- Sophora lehmannii (Bunge
Alexander Georg von Bunge was a Baltic German botanist. He was a professor of botany at the University of Tartu, and was director of the department from 1842 until 1844...
) Kuntze
- Sophora longicarinata – Kowhai (New Zealand)
- Sophora masafuerana
Sophora masafuerana is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands of Chile. It is threatened by habitat loss....
(Phil.) Skottsb. (Juan Fernández Islands)
- Sophora macrocarpa Sm.
Sir James Edward Smith was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in the natural world...
– Mayo or Mayú (Chile)
- Sophora mangarevaensis
Sophora mangarevaensis is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to French Polynesia....
H.St.JohnHarold St. John was a professor of botany at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa from 1929 to 1958. A prolific specialist in field botany and systematics, he is credited with discovering about 500 new species of Pandanus, along with many other species, especially in the Pacific Islands.Born in...
(French PolynesiaFrench Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
) |
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. Carl Anton Andreevic von Meyer was a Russian botanist and explorer.Meyer took part in expeditions, including one to the Altay Mountains with Karl Friedrich von Ledebour and Alexander G. von Bunge in 1826-27. He was the director of the botanical gardens at Saint Petersburg from 1850 to 1855.-...
Sophora prostrata Buchanan – Dwarf Kowhai, Prostrate Kowhai (New Zealand)
Sophora raivavaeensisSophora raivavaeensis is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to French Polynesia....
H.St.John (French Polynesia)
Sophora rapaensisSophora rapaensis is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to French Polynesia....
H.St.John (French Polynesia)
Sophora saxicolaSophora saxicola is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to Jamaica....
Proctor (JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
)
Sophora tetraptera J.F.Muell. – Large-leaved Kowhai, Taupo Kowhai (New Zealand)
Sophora tomentosaSophora tomentosa, also known as Necklacepod, Yellow Necklacepod, and occasionally as Silver bush, is a pantropical shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae. It commonly ranges in height from 4 to 10 feet and often occurs in coastal conditions and near wetlands...
L. – Necklace Pod (PantropicalIn biogeography, a pantropical distribution one which covers tropical regions of all of the major continents, i.e. in Africa, in Asia and in the Americas. Examples include the plant genera Acacia and Bacopa....
on coasts)
Sophora tonkinensisSophora tonkinensis is a herb used in traditional Chinese medicine.Sofalcone is an oral gastrointestinal medication and a synthetic derivative of sophoradin, an isoprenyl chalcone found in S. tonkinensis....
Gagnep.
Sophora toromiro Skottsb.Carl Johan Fredrik Skottsberg was a Swedish botanist and explorer of Antarctica.Skottsberg was born in Karlshamn, began his academic studies at Uppsala University in 1898 and received his doctorate and a docentship there in 1907...
– Toromiro (Easter IslandEaster Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
)
Sophora velutina Lindl.
Sophora violacea Thwaites
Sophora wightiiSophora wightii is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to India....
BakerJohn Gilbert Baker was an English botanist.Baker was born in Guisborough, the son of John and Mary Baker and educated at Quaker schools in Ackworth and York....
(IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) |
Formerly placed here
- Aganope heptaphylla (L.) Polhill (as S. heptaphylla L.)
- Ammodendron bifolium (Pall.) Yakovlev (as S. argentea Pall. or S. bifolia Pall.)
- Baptisia tinctoria
Baptisia tinctoria is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to eastern North America.-Distribution:...
(L.) R.Br. (as S. tinctoria L.)
- Calia arizonica (S.Watson) Yakovlev (as S. arizonica S.Watson or S. formosa Kearney & Peebles)
- Calia secundiflora (Ortega) Yakovlev (as S. secundiflora (Ortega) Lag. ex DC.)
- Cladrastis kentukea (Dum. Cours.) Rudd (as S. kentukea Dum. Cours.)
- Cladrastis platycarpa (Maxim.) Makino (as S. platycarpa Maxim.)
|
Cladrastis shikokiana (Makino) Makino (as S. shikokiana Makino)
Cyclopia galioides (P.J.Bergius) DC. (as S. galioides P.J.Bergius)
Styphnolobium affine (Torr. & A.Gray) Walp. (as S. affinis Torr. & A. Gray)
Thermopsis alpina (Pall.) Ledeb. (as S. alpina Pall.) |
External links