Sophora

Taxonomy

Sophora C. Linnaeus Nom. cons. prop. Sp. Pl. 373. 1 Mai 1753.

Subfamily: Faboideae.
Phylogenetic Number: 3.2.45.
Tribe: Sophoreae.
Group: Sophora.
Species Studied - Species in Genus: 15 studied; 45(–50) in genus.

Description

Fruit: A legumelegume:
usually dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that opens along two longitudinal sutures
; unilocular; 3–15 cm long; 0.4–1.4 cm wide; 0.3–0.9 cm thick; 2–9 times longer than wide, or more than 9 times longer than wide; with persistent androecial sheath, or deciduous androecial sheath; with deciduous corolla; with persistent calyx, or deciduous calyx; with calyx shorter than fruit; without orifice formed by curving of fruit or fruit segments; straight, or curved, or 1.5-coiled, or 1-coiled; not plicate; not twisted, or twisted; symmetrical, or asymmetrical; coiled, or moniliform; with both sutures parallelly curved; not inflated; compressed, or terete; with beak, or without beak; straight, or declined; with solid beak the same color and texture as fruit; blunt at apex, or rounded at apex, or tapered at apex; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right-angled with longitudinal axis of fruit, or almost reaching longitudinal axis of fruit; long tapered at base; aligned with longitudinal axis of fruit, or oblique with longitudinal axis of fruit, or right angled with longitudinal axis of fruit; with the apex and base uniform in texture; chartaceous, or coriaceous, or ligneous; seed chambers externally visible; seed chambers with the raised seed chambers not torulose; margin constricted, or not constricted; margin constricted along both margins; margin without sulcus; margin embellished, or plain; margin with wing(s); wing(s) present, or absent; wing(s) 4; wing(s) 2–3 mm wide; wing(s) sutural; wing(s) on both sutures; stipitate (usually by abortion of ovules); with the stipe 5–30 mm long; with all layers dehiscing, or with epicarp and mesocarp breaking near center of valve and endocarp dehiscing along suture; splitting along suture(s). Dehiscence of valves along both sutures; apical and down; active; with valves twisting. Replum invisible. Epicarp dull to semiglossy; monochrome, or multicolored; bichrome, or mottled; black, or brown, or green, or tan; with brown overlay; mottling color combination variable; with surface texture uniform; glabrous, or pubescent and indurate; with hairs erect, or appressed; with 1 type of pubescence; sericeous, or villous; with pubescence gray, or golden, or white; with pubescence uniformly distributed; with simple hairs; pliable; with hair bases plain; eglandular; without spines; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; not veined; not tuberculate; papillose, or raised reticulate, or wrinkled; exfoliating in part, or not exfoliating; without cracks; without embedded tissue, much thicker than epicarp, running from base to apex. Mesocarp present; thick, or thin; surface not veined; 1-layered, or 2-layered, or 3-layered; with balsamic vesicles, or without balsamic vesicles; without fibers; without reniform canals; solid; with solid layer over spongy layer; with solid layer over spongy layer over solid layer, or solid layer over 2 distinct spongy layers; coriaceous, or chartaceous. Endocarp present; visible; dull; opaque, or translucent; monochrome; brown, or tan; smooth; without adhering pieces of testa; septate, or nonseptate; with septa thicker than paper, firm; with septa eglandular; chartaceous; exfoliating in part, or not exfoliating; remaining fused to mesocarp and epicarp, or separating from mesocarp; with wing(s) extending into epicarp, or without wings; entire. Seed(s) 1–15; length parallel with fruit length; neither overlapping nor touching; in 1 series. Funiculus 0.1–0.5 mm long; of 1 length only; thick; straight. Aril present, or absent; dry; when dry thin rim-aril; entire; covering less than 1/2 of seed; tan to white.

Seed: 3–13 mm long; 2–10 mm wide; 2–8 mm thick; not overgrown; not angular, or angular; symmetrical; ovate, or elliptic to circular (nearly), or rhombic; terete to compressed; with surface smooth; without visible radicle and cotyledon lobes; without hilar sinus; without umbo on seed faces; without medial ridge on each face. Cuticle not exfoliating; not inflated; not wrinkled. Testa present; with pieces of adhering epicarp, or without pieces of adhering epicarp; partially adhering to endocarp, or not adhering to endocarp; free from endocarp; dull; not modified by a bloom; colored; monochrome; brown, or tan; glabrous; smooth, or not smooth; with elevated features; bearing endocarp remnants; coriaceous to chartaceous. Pleurogram absent. Pseudopleurogram absent. Fracture lines absent. Rim absent. Wing(s) absent. Raphe visible; from hilum through lens to base of seed and terminating, or hilum to near base of seed and terminating; not bifurcating; color of testa, or darker than testa; flush, or raised. Hilum present; visible, or partially concealed; concealed by funicular remnant; with faboid split; with the lips of the faboid split the same color as the rest of the hilum; larger than punctiform; 0.7–3 mm long; with curved outline, or straight outline; elliptic; oblong; apical according to radicle tip but marginal according to seed length; recessed; within halo, or within rim; halo lighter than testa, or darker than testa; rim color of testa, or lighter than testa, or darker than testa. Lens discernible, or not discernible; 0.1–2 mm long; with margins straight; linear, or triangular; in groove of raphe, or not in groove of raphe; confluent with hilum; flush; similar color as testa; darker than testa; not within corona, halo, or rim. Endosperm present, or absent; thick, or thin; not pluglike and not resembling tip of radicle; covering entire embryo; adnate to testa. Cotyledons smooth, or not smooth; sulcate; both outer faces convex; both the same thickness; both more or less of equal length; with both folded, or not folded; sufficiently folded for inner face to touch itself; portions of inner folded face unequal; margin entire 180 degrees from base of radicle, or not entire 180 degrees from base of radicle (rarely); notched; similar at apex; completely concealing radicle, or partially concealing radicle, or not concealing radicle; entire over radicle, or notched at radicle, or split over radicle; with lobes; with lobes overlapping, or touching (auriculate), or not touching; with basal groin formed by lobes; with the interface division terminating at base of radicle; with margin(s) recessed; with 1 margin recessed, or both margins recessed; recessed on same side as radicle; yellow, or green, or tan, or yellow and brown; inner face flat; glabrous on inner face. Embryonic axis oblique, or right angled; oblique to length of seed, or perpendicular to length of seed; without a joint evident between the radicle and the cotyledons. Radicle differentiated from cotyledon; bulbose, or linear; lobe tip straight; oblique to cotyledons, or with 90 degree turn; centered between cotyledons; less than 1/2 length of cotyledons. Plumule rudimentary, or moderately developed; glabrous.

Distribution

North America and Eurasia.

New World, or Old World; Canada, United States, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, and South America; Argentina; Europe, Mediterranean, Russia, Southwest Asia, China, Japan, Africa, Madagascar, India, Indochina, Indonesia and the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, Korea, and Mongolia.

Generic Notes

Tsoong Pu-Chiu and Ma Chi-yon revised Sophora in 1981. Polhill (1994b) and Sousa and Rudd (1993) maintained Calia J.L. Berlandier (2.43) as a genus, but Tsoong Pu-chiu and Ma Chi-yon kept it as a synonym of Sophora. We have chosen to follow Sousa and Rudd, and maintain Calia as a good genus. Seeds of Sophora are rather variable. Cotyledons and endosperm of some Sophora species, along with those of Calpurnia (25.05) and Cladrastis (2.41), are similar to those of some Phaseoleae, such as Diphyllarium (10.37) and Neonotonia (10.40) of Glycininae and Kennedia (10.47), Hardenbergia (10.48), and Vandasina (10.49) of Kennedinae.

Tribal Notes

Tribe Sophoreae

Polhill (1981b) stated that the Sophoreae s.l. is a tribe of convenience between the Caesalpinioideae and the bulk of the Papilionoideae, sharply defined from neither. He transferred four genera from Sophoreae into the Swartzieae (1), Amburana (3.1.15), Ateleia (3.1.13), Cyathostegia (3.1.14), and Holocalyx (3.1.12), following Herendeen's (1995) cladistic analyses. Herendeen performed cladistic analyses for all Swartzieae genera, sensu Cowan (1981), 19 Sophoreae genera, and three Caesalpinioideae genera. He concluded that Swartzieae is polyphyletic and that it should be disbanded and its genera transferred to Sophoreae. Preliminary rbcL data (Doyle et al. 1997) supported his conclusions.