Styphnolobium is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It includes nine species of small trees and shrubs native to China and to the Americas, from the southern United States to Colombia. It belongs to subfamily Faboideae, and was formerly included within a broader interpretation of the genus Sophora. It was recently assigned to the unranked, monophyleticCladrastis clade. They differ from the genus Calia (mescalbeans) in having deciduousleaves and flowers in axillary, not terminal, racemes. The leaves are pinnate, with 9–21 leaflets, and the flowers in pendulous racemes similar to those of the black locust. Necklacepod is a common name for plants in this genus.
Etymology
From Greek styphno-, stryphno- "sour, astringent" and lobion "pod", because of the fresh pods' pulp taste.
Species
Styphnolobium has the following species:
Section Oresbios
Styphnolobium affine (Torr. & A. Gray) Walp., the Eve's necklace, is native to the southern United States in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. It is a large shrub or small tree, growing to 5–7 m tall, with white or pale violet flowers. The seeds of this species are believed to be poisonous. The sapwood leaches a yellow dye on contact with water.
Styphnolobium japonicum (L.) Schott, the pagoda tree (Chinese scholar, Japanese pagodatree; syn. Sophora japonica), is native to eastern Asia (mainly China; despite the name, it is introduced in Japan), is a popular ornamental tree in Europe, North America and South Africa, grown for its white flowers, borne in late summer after most other flowering trees have long finished flowering. It grows into a lofty tree 10–20 m tall with an equal spread, and produces a fine, dark brown timber.
↑Cardoso D, de Queiroz LP, Pennington RT, de Lima HC, Fonty É, Wojciechowski MF, Lavin M (2012). "Revisiting the phylogeny of papilionoid legumes: new insights from comprehensively sampled early-branching lineages". Am J Bot. 99 (12): 1991–2013. doi:10.3732/ajb.1200380. PMID23221500.
↑Wojciechowski MF (2013). "The origin and phylogenetic relationships of the Californian chaparral 'paleoendemic' Pickeringia (Leguminosae)". Syst Bot. 38 (1): 132–142. doi:10.1600/036364413X662024. S2CID86331839.
↑"ILDIS LegumeWeb entry for Styphnolobium". International Legume Database & Information Service. Cardiff School of Computer Science & Informatics. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
