''Styphnolobium japonicum'', the Japanese pagoda tree (also known as the Chinese scholar tree and pagoda tree; syn. ''Sophora japonica'') is a species of

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

in the subfamily

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is widely ...

of the pea family Fabaceae. It was formerly included within a broader interpretation of the genus ''

Sophora ''Sophora'' is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs in the pea family Fabaceae. The species have a pantropical distribution. The generic name is derived from ''sophera'', an Arabic name for a pea-flowered tree. The genus former ...

''. The species of ''Styphnolobium'' differ from ''Sophora'' in lacking the ability to form

symbioses Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

with rhizobia (

nitrogen fixing Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular nitrogen (), with a strong triple covalent bond, in the air is converted into ammonia () or related nitrogenous compounds, typically in soil or aquatic systems but also in industry. Atmos ...

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...

) on their

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

s. It also differs from the related genus '' Calia'' (mescalbeans) in having

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

leaves and

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

s in axillary, not terminal,

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the sh ...

s. The leaves are alternate,

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, an ...

, with nine to 21 leaflets, and the flowers in pendulous racemes similar to those of the

black locust ''Robinia pseudoacacia'', commonly known in its native territory as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is endemic to a few small areas of the United States, ...

Distribution

''Styphnolobium japonicum'' is native to China; despite the name, it was introduced in Japan. It is a popular ornamental tree in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, North America and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, 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.

Uses

Historical events

The

Guilty Chinese Scholartree The zuihuai () is a specimen of the pagoda tree (''Styphnolobium japonicum'') located in Jingshan Park, Beijing, China. It is a tourist attraction and national landmark in Jingshan Park. The Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian, the last ruler of the Min ...

was a historic pagoda tree in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, from which the last emperor of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

Chongzhen Chongzhen () (5 February 1628 – 25 April 1644) was the era name of the Chongzhen Emperor, the last emperor of the Ming dynasty of China. Chongzhen was also the Ming dynasty's final era name. Comparison table Other eras contemporaneous with ...

, hanged himself.

Traditional medicine

''S. japonicum'' (; formerly ''Sophora japonica'') is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logica ...

. Its fruits have stress resistance and antioxidant properties.

Tea

The flowers and leaves are sometimes used for teas, such as by families in Laoshan Village,

Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

, China. It counts as a variety of herbal tea.

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. 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 "Blackstone fish owl" carvings.

Chemistry

The dried flower buds may contain as much as 20% rutin with some

quercetin Quercetin is a plant flavonol from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves, seeds, and grains; capers, red onions, and kale are common foods containing appreciable amounts of it. It has a bitter flavor ...

. ''S. japonicum'' dried fruit contains the

flavonoid Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids; from the Latin word ''flavus'', meaning yellow, their color in nature) are a class of polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants, and thus commonly consumed in the diets of humans. Chemically, flavonoids ...

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycoside ...

sophoricoside Sophoricoside is an isoflavone Genistein glycoside found in the dried ripe fruit of ''Styphnolobium japonicum'' ( L.) Schott, a herb used in traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practi ...

genistin Genistin is an isoflavone found in a number of dietary plants like soy and kudzu. It was first isolated in 1931 from the 90% methanol extract of a soybean meal, when it was found that hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid produced 1 mole each of ...

and rutin and the

aglycone An aglycone (aglycon or genin) is the compound remaining after the glycosyl group on a glycoside is replaced by a hydrogen atom. For example, the aglycone of a cardiac glycoside would be a steroid A steroid is a biologically active organic c ...

s genistein, quercetin and

kaempferol Kaempferol (3,4′,5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone) is a natural flavonol, a type of flavonoid, found in a variety of plants and plant-derived foods including kale, beans, tea, spinach, and broccoli. Kaempferol is a yellow crystalline solid with a mel ...

. Another analysis found genistein and genistein glycosides including sophorabioside,

, 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 Matrine is an alkaloid found in plants from the genus ''Sophora''. It has a variety of pharmacological effects, including anti-cancer effects, as well as κ-opioid and μ-opioid receptor agonism. Matrine possesses strong antitumor activities '' ...

and stizolamine.

References

Citations

General references

* Heenan, P. B., M. I. Dawson, S. J. Wagstaff (December 2004). "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". ''Bot. J. Linn. Soc.'' 146(4): 439–446. .

External links

''Sophora japonica''

The Evil God in the Pagoda Tree
��Japanese folktale with the pagoda tree at hyakumonogatari.com {{Taxonbar, from=Q288558 Faboideae Flora of China Trees of Korea Garden plants of Asia Medicinal plants Ornamental trees Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine Trees of China