白花槐 bai hua huai

Sophora glauca Leschenault ex Candolle var. albescens Rehder in Sargent, Pl. Wilson. 3: 447. 1917; S. velutina Lindley var. albescens (Rehder) P. C. Tsoong.

Shrubs, 1-2 m. Branchlets gray-white pubescent. Leaves 15-20(-25) cm; stipules linear, 3-4 mm, caducous; leaflets 17-25, ovate-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, 2-3(-4) × 1-1.5 cm, papery, pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially, base rounded or obtuse, apex cuspidate. Racemes opposite a leaf or appearing terminal; bracts linear, 6-8 mm, hairy. Calyx campanulate, ca. 10 mm; teeth 5, short, hairy. Corolla white; standard reflexed, obovate-lanceolate, ca. 16 × 3-5 mm, 2-auriculate at middle, apex retuse; wings oblong or broadly linear, 13-14 mm, unequally 2-auriculate at base, claw slender, ca. 6 mm; keel obovate or falcate. Stamens 10, slightly fused and sparsely pubescent at base. Ovary gray-brown hairy, stalk short; style straight, glabrous. Legumes moniliform, 6-15 cm, constricted between seeds, beaked, gray-white pubescent or subglabrous. Seeds 2-4(-6), yellow-brown or red-brown, long ovoid. Fl. and fr. Mar-Aug.

● Shady damp places in valleys; 1100-2500 m. Sichuan, Yunnan.

The name "Sophora albescens J. St.-Hil. (1806) Duham. Arb. 3: 86," as cited in Zhu et al. (Legumes China, 580. 2007), does not exist and is an error picked up from various indices.