Sophora

Taxobox
name = "Sophora"

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Sophora tetraptera" flowers and leaves
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Fabales
familia = Fabaceae
subfamilia = Faboideae
tribus = Sophoreae
genus = "Sophora"
genus_authority = L.
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = 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".

elected 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" Kom.ex Pavol. [cited as "S.viciifolia" Hance (1903)in Tsong et Ma (1981)Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica p.21]
*"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)
*"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

* [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?11294 Germplasm Resources Information Network: "Sophora"]
* [http://www.chilebosque.cl/shrb/smacr.html "Sophora macrocarpa" pictures from "Chilebosque"]
*Heenan P.B, de Lange P.J, Wilton A.D. (2001) "Sophora (Fabaceae) in New Zealand: taxonomy, distribution and biogeography." "New Zealand Journal of Botany". 39: 17-53 [http://www.rsnz.org/publish/nzjb/2001/3.php on line]