Sophora
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 Sophora tetraptera flowers and leaves
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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 from southeast Europe across 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).
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 mediterranean small tree native from Chile, called Mayo or Mayú.
[edit] Selected species
- Sophora albescens (Rehder) C.Y.Ma
- Sophora alopecuroides L. - Sophora Root
- Sophora cassioides (F.Phil.) Sparre - Pelu (Chile)
- Sophora chathamica - Coastal Kowhai (New Zealand)
- Sophora chrysophylla (Salisb.) Seem. - Mamane
- Sophora davidii (Franch.) Skeels
- Sophora fernandeziana - (Juan Fernández Islands)
- Sophora flavescens Aiton
- Sophora fulvida - 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 - (Juan Fernández Islands)
- Sophora macnabiana - (Chile)
- Sophora macrocarpa Sm. - (Chile)
- 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.Mill. - Large-leaved Kowhai, Taupo Kowhai (New Zealand)
- Sophora tomentosa L. - Necklace Pod, Mamane (Pantropical coastal)
- Sophora tonkinensis Gagnep.
- Sophora toromiro - Toromiro (Easter Island)
- Sophora velutina Lindl.
- Sophora violacea Thwaites
