11. Sophora flavescens Aiton, Hort. Kew. 2: 43. 1789.
苦参 ku shen
Herbs or subshrubs, 1-2 m. Stem striped, pilose when young. Leaves 20-25(-30) cm; stipules lanceolate, 6-8 mm, acuminate; leaflets 13-25, elliptic, ovate, or lanceolate, 3-4(-6) × (0.5-)1.2-2 cm, papery, pilose or glabrescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially, base cuneate or slightly cordate, apex obtuse or acute. Racemes terminal, 15-25 cm. Flowers many, widely spaced; pedicel slender, ca. 7 mm; bracts linear, ca. 2.5 mm. Calyx campanulate, oblique; teeth not obvious, sparsely pubescent. Corolla white, pale yellow, purple-red, or red; standard obovate-spatulate, 14-15 × 6-7 mm, apex rounded or retuse, narrowing to a claw; wings rugose, claw equal to blade, ca. 13 mm; keel similar to wings, slightly broader, ca. 4 mm wide. Stamens 10, free or slightly fused at base. Ovary nearly sessile, hairy; ovules many; style slightly curved. Legumes 5-10 cm, slightly constricted between seeds, slightly quadrangular, sparsely or densely pubescent or glabrescent, 4-valvate. Seeds 1-5, red-brown or purple-brown, long ovoid, slightly compressed. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Oct.
Scrub, hill slopes, farm fields; below 1500 m. All provinces [India, Japan, Korea, Russia].
