''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 the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

. 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 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 Rhizobia are diazotrophic bacteria that fix nitrogen after becoming established inside the root nodules of legumes (Fabaceae). To express genes for nitrogen fixation, rhizobia require a plant host; they cannot independently fix nitrogen. In gene ...

( nitrogen fixing bacteria) on their roots. It also differs from the related genus '' Calia'' (mescalbeans) in having deciduous

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

and flowers 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 s ...

s. The leaves are alternate, pinnate, with nine to 21 leaflets, and the flowers in pendulous racemes similar to those of the black locust.

Distribution

''Styphnolobium japonicum'' is native to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

; despite the name, it was introduced in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is a popular ornamental tree in Europe,

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

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.

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, from which the last emperor of the Ming dynasty, Chongzhen, hanged himself.

Traditional medicine

''S. japonicum'' (; formerly ''Sophora japonica'') is one of the

50 fundamental herbs Chinese herbology () is the theory of traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A ''Nature'' editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that t ...

used in traditional Chinese medicine. 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 civilizatio ...

, 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. ''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 ...

glycosides

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 and rutin and the

aglycones genistein, quercetin and kaempferol. Another analysis found genistein and genistein glycosides including sophorabioside,

, genistein-7-diglucoside, genistein-7-diglucorhamnoside, and kaempferol and the kaempferol

glycosides 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 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