Styphnolobium japonicum
{{Short description|Species of legume}}
{{use dmy dates |date=August 2022}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Sophora japonica JPG2Aa.jpg
|image_caption = Styphnolobium japonicum tree
|genus = Styphnolobium
|species = japonicum
|authority = (L.) Schott{{GRIN | accessdate=2008-02-19}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ildis.org/LegumeWeb?sciname=Styphnolobium+japonicum |title=Styphnolobium japonicum – ILDIS LegumeWeb |accessdate=2008-02-19 }}
|synonyms = *Sophora japonica L.
}}
Styphnolobium japonicum, the Japanese pagoda tree{{PLANTS|id=STJA9|taxon=Styphnolobium japonicum|accessdate=4 December 2015}} (also known as the Chinese scholar tree and pagoda tree; syn. Sophora japonica) is a species of deciduous tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae.
It was formerly included within a broader interpretation of the genus Sophora. The species of Styphnolobium differ from Sophora in lacking the ability to form symbioses with rhizobia (nitrogen fixing bacteria) on their roots. It also differs from the related genus Calia (mescalbeans) in having deciduous leaves and flowers in axillary, not terminal, racemes. The leaves are alternate, pinnate, with nine to 21 leaflets, and the flowers in pendulous racemes similar to those of the black locust.
Distribution
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Styphnolobium japonicum is native to China. Despite its Latin name, the species was introduced in Japan and not originally found there. It 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 to 10–20 m tall with an equal spread, and produces a fine, dark brown timber.{{cn|date=June 2023}}
Uses
=History=
Despite its name, the Chinese scholar tree was not the official memorial tree of higher officials in Zhou dynasty China. The tombs of scholars were instead decorated with Koelreuteria paniculata.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Hui-Lin |title=The Origin and Cultivation of Shade and Ornamental Trees |date=1974 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=0-8122-1070-0 |location=Pennsylvania, United States |pages=22 |language=en}}
The Guilty Chinese Scholartree is a historic pagoda tree in Beijing, from which the last emperor of the Ming dynasty, Chongzhen, hanged himself in 1644.{{citation|last=Barmé|first=Geremie R.|title=The Forbidden City|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2011|isbn=9780674069091|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YXez1CFygkcC&q=zuihuai+replaced&pg=PA145|page=145}}
=Traditional medicine=
File:Beans cut of Chinese Scholar Tree.jpg
S. japonicum ({{zh|c=槐|p=huái}}; formerly Sophora japonica) is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. Its fruits have stress resistance and antioxidant properties.{{Cite journal|last1=Thabit|first1=Sara|last2=Handoussa|first2=Heba|last3=Roxo|first3=Mariana|last4=Cestari de Azevedo|first4=Bruna|last5=S.E. El Sayed|first5=Nesrine|last6=Wink|first6=Michael|date=2019-07-19|title=Styphnolobium japonicum (L.) Schott Fruits Increase Stress Resistance and Exert Antioxidant Properties in Caenorhabditis elegans and Mouse Models|journal=Molecules|volume=24|issue=14|pages=2633|doi=10.3390/molecules24142633|issn=1420-3049|pmc=6680879|pmid=31331055|doi-access=free}}
=Tea=
The flowers and leaves are sometimes used for teas, such as by families in Laoshan Village, Shandong Province, China. It counts as a variety of herbal tea.{{cn|date=June 2023}}
=Construction uses=
The wood is used to make the strong, springy curved "enju wood" handle used on the traditional Japanese woodworking adze, called the chouna.{{cite web|url=http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.com/2010/08/japanese-axes-and-adzes.html |title=Japanese axes and adzes|accessdate=2012-02-24 |publisher=Robin Wood }}{{cite web|url=http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.com/2010/10/beautiful-axes-japanese-carpentry-tools.html |title=Beautiful axes, Japanese carpentry tools }} Pagoda wood is very hard after drying. This makes pagoda products durable and long lasting. The pagoda tree trunk is generally composed of alternating ridges of light-brown outside layers and gray brown inside layers. This makes wood carving products, for example from the Hokkaido native Ainu people, very decorative. The Ainu are famous for their carvings of the Blakiston's fish owl.
Chemistry
The dried flower buds may contain as much as 20% rutin with some quercetin.{{cite book|last1=Tang|first1=Weici|last2=Eisenbrand|first2=Gerhard|chapter=Sophora japonica L |title=Chinese Drugs of Plant Origin|date=1992|publisher=Springer|location=Berlin, Heidelberg|isbn=978-3-642-73741-1|pages=945–955|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-73739-8_114}} S. japonicum dried fruit contains the flavonoid glycosides sophoricoside, genistin and rutin and the flavonoid aglycones genistein, quercetin and kaempferol.{{cite journal|last1=Chang|first1=L.|last2=Zhang|first2=X.X.|last3=Ren|first3=Y.P.|last4=Cao|first4=L.|last5=Zhi|first5=X.R.|last6=Zhang|first6=L.T.|title=Simultaneous Quantification of Six Major Flavonoids From Fructus sophorae by LC-ESI-MS/MS and Statistical Analysis|journal=Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences|date=2013|volume=75|issue=3|pages=330–338|doi=10.4103/0250-474X.117437|pmc=3783751|pmid=24082349 |doi-access=free }} Another analysis found genistein and genistein glycosides including sophorabioside, sophoricoside, genistein-7-diglucoside, genistein-7-diglucorhamnoside, and kaempferol and the kaempferol glycosides kaempferol-3-sophoroside and kaempferol-3-rhamnodiglucoside. The fruit also contain the alkaloids cytisine, N-methylcytisine, sophocarpine, matrine and stizolamine.{{cite book|last1=Bensky|first1=Dan|last2=Clavey|first2=Steven|last3=Stöger|first3=Erich|last4=Lai Bensky|first4=Lilian|title=Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica|date=2015|publisher=Eastland Press|location=Seattle, USA|isbn=978-0-939616-82-4|pages=575–578|edition=Portable 3rd}} The bark contains the allomatrine alkaloid.{{cite web | url=https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Allomatrine | title=Allomatrine }}
References
= Citations =
{{Reflist}}
=General references=
- {{cite journal|author=Heenan, P. B.|author2= M. I. Dawson|author3= S. J. Wagstaff |date=December 2004|title= The relationship of Sophora sect. Edwardsia (Fabaceae) to Sophora tomentosa, the type species of the genus Sophora, observed from DNA sequence data and morphological characters|journal=Bot. J. Linn. Soc.|volume=146|issue=4|pages=439–446|doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2004.00348.x}}
External links
{{Commons|Styphnolobium japonicum}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080119224357/http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/Trees/pagoda.htm Sophora japonica]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080517122439/http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/BotanicalSciences/TreesFamiliesNames/WhatTreeIsIt/IdentifybyName/CommonName/ChineseScholarTree/ChineseScholarTree.htm "Chinese Scholar Tree"]
- [http://hyakumonogatari.com/2012/01/18/enju-no-jashin-the-evil-god-in-the-pagoda-tree/ The Evil God in the Pagoda Tree]—Japanese folktale with the pagoda tree at hyakumonogatari.com
{{Taxonbar|from=Q288558}}
Category:Garden plants of Asia