20. Styphnolobium japonicum (L.) Schott, Wiener Z. Kunst. 1830(3): 844. 1830.
槐 huai
Sophora japonica Linnaeus, Mant. Pl. 1: 68. 1767.
Anagyris chinensis Sprengel; Macrotropis foetida Candolle; Ormosia esquirolii H. Léveillé; Pongamia chinensis Candolle; Robinia mitis Loureiro (1790), not Linnaeus (1763); Sophora angustifoliola Q. Q. Liu & H. Y. Ye ["angustifiola"]; S. japonica f. columnaris Schwerin; S. japonica f. hybrida Carrière; S. japonica f. oligophylla Franchet; S. japonica f. pendula Loudon; S. japonica var. praecox Schwerin; S. japonica var. pubescens (Tausch) Bosse; S. japonica f. variegata Nichols; S. japonica var. vestita Rehder; S. japonica var. violacea Carrière; S. mairei H. Léveillé (1915), not Pampanini (1910); S. pubescens Tausch; S. sinensis Forrest; S. vaniotii H. Léveillé; Styphnolobium japonicum (Linnaeus) Schott.
Trees, to 25 m. Bark gray-brown, longitudinally striate; branches of current year green, glabrous. Leaves 15-25 cm; stipules ovate to linear, caducous; petiole inflated at base, bud hidden; leaflets 9-15; stipels subulate; blades ovate-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, 2.5-6 × 1.5-3 cm, papery, glaucous and sparsely to densely pubescent abaxially, usually becoming glabrate, base broadly cuneate or rounded, apex acuminate, mucronate. Panicles terminal, to 30 cm; bracteole subulate. Calyx shortly campanulate, 3.5-4.5 mm; teeth 5, obtuse, pubescent. Corolla white or creamy yellow, rarely purple-red; standard broadly ovate, claw short, base cordate, apex retuse; wings ovate-oblong, ca. 10 × 4 mm; keel similar to wings, but broader. Stamens 10, unequal, free, persistent. Ovary glabrescent. Legumes green, moniliform, 2.5-5 × ca. 1 cm, obviously constricted between seeds, indehiscent, fleshy. Seeds 1-6, yellow-green, black-brown when dry, ovoid. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.
Cultivated throughout China [native to Japan and Korea; widely cultivated elsewhere].
Many intergrading varieties and horticultural forms exist that are not worthy of recognition at this level. Sophora angustifoliola appears to be merely a narrow-leaved form of this species.
Styphnodendron, formerly regarded as part of Sophora, is represented in Asia only by S. japonicum, and that isn’t even directly related to Sophora.
