Sophora

Sophora is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs in the pea family Fabaceae. The species are native to southern Asia, Australasia, various Pacific islands, western South America, the western United States,[4] Florida[5] and Puerto Rico. The generic name is derived from sophera, an Arabic name for a pea-flowered tree.[6]

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 Dermatophyllum (the mescalbeans). Styphnolobium has galactomannans as seed polysaccharide reserve, in contrast Sophora contains arabinogalactans, and Dermatophyllum amylose.

The New Zealand Sophora species are known as kōwhai or kowhai.[7]

The seeds of species such as Sophora affinis and Sophora chrysophylla are reported to be poisonous.[8]

One Sophora fossil seed pod from the middle Eocene epoch has been described from the Miller clay pit in Henry County, Tennessee, United States.[9]