Sophora is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs in the pea family Fabaceae. The species have a pantropical distribution.[4][5] The generic name is derived from sophera, an Arabic name for a pea-flowered tree.[6]
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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 Dermatophyllum (the mescalbeans). Styphnolobium has galactomannans as seed polysaccharide reserve, in contrast Sophora contains arabinogalactans, and Dermatophyllum amylose.
The New Zealand Sophora species are known as kōwhai.[7]
The seeds of species such as Sophora affinis and Sophora chrysophylla are reported to be poisonous.[8]
One Sophora fossil seed pod from the middle Eocene epoch has been described from the Miller clay pit in Henry County, Tennessee, United States.[9]
Sophora comprises the following species:[2][7][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
The status of the following species is unresolved:[16]
- Sophora angustifolia Q.Q.Liu & H.Y.Ye
- Sophora biflora Houtt.
- Sophora biflora Retz.
- Sophora buxifolia Retz.
- Sophora chathamica Cockayne
- Sophora coerulea Moench
- Sophora cuneifolia Steud.
- Sophora davidii (Franch.) Skeels
- Sophora donihuensis Ravenna
- Sophora genistaefolia Salisb.
- Sophora genistoides L.
- Sophora glabra Moench
- Sophora glabra Hassk.
- Sophora godleyi Heenan & de Lange
- Sophora grandiflora (Salisb.) Skottsb.
- Sophora grisea O.Deg. & Sherff
- Sophora hirsuta Aiton
- Sophora houghiana Wall.
- Sophora howinsula (W.R.B. Oliv.) P. Green
- Sophora jabandas Montrouz.
- Sophora juncea Schrad.
- Sophora ludovice-Adecim-Asexta Buc'hoz
- Sophora mangarevaensis H.St.John
- Sophora mecosperma J.St.-Hil.
- Sophora molloyi Heenan & de Lange
- Sophora molokaiensis O. Degener & I. Degener
- Sophora mutabilis Salisb.
- Sophora myrtillifolia Retz.
- Sophora oblongata P.C.Tsoong
- Sophora oblongifolia Ruiz & Pav.
- Sophora oligophylla Baker
- Sophora pendula Spach
- Sophora pentaphylla Desv.
- Sophora persica (Boiss. & Buhse) Rech.f.
- Sophora praetorulosa Chun & T.C. Chen
- Sophora raivavaeensis H.St.John
- Sophora rapaensis H.St.John
- Sophora robinoides Walp.
- Sophora senegalensis Deless. ex DC.
- Sophora sibirica Holub
- Sophora sinica Rosier
- Sophora sinuata Larrañaga
- Sophora sororia Hance
- Sophora sumatrana Yakovlev
- Sophora sylvatica Burch.
- Sophora tetraptera J. Miller
- Sophora tiloebsis Blume ex Miq.
- Sophora tiloensis Blume ex Miq.
- Sophora trifolia Steud.
- Sophora triphylla Sweet
- Sophora vanioti H. Lév.
- Sophora vestita Nakai
- Sophora viciifolis Hance
"Sophora L." TROPICOS. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2010-01-28. "Genus: Sophora L." Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2006-11-03. Archived from the original on 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2009-11-23. Little, Elbert L. (1980). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region. New York: Knopf. p. 529. ISBN 0-394-50760-6. Staff writer(s); no by-line. "ILDIS LegumeWeb entry for Sophora". International Legume Database & Information Service. Cardiff School of Computer Science & Informatics. Retrieved 18 May 2014.{{cite web}}
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