Sophora flavescens, the shrubby sophora, is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to a wide area of East Asia.
Description Sophora flavescens can grow to a height of . Its stem is marked with stripes and covered in soft hairs when young. The leaves are usually long, with lanceolate stipules and 13–25 elliptic, ovate, or lanceolate leaflets. The plant produces terminal racemes measuring , with numerous flowers spaced widely apart. The flowers have slender pedicels and linear bracts with white, pale yellow, purple-red, or red spoon-shaped petals. It blooms from June to August and fruits from July to October.
Distribution Sophora flavescens is native to China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and the Russian Far East. It mainly grows on mountainous slopes, sandy grassland inclines, shrub forests, or around the fields, typically at elevations below .
Growth and cultivation Sophora flavescens is an evergreen slow growing shrub growing to by . It is hardy to and to US zone 6. The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil. Like many other species in the family Fabaceae, this species can fix nitrogen.
Chemistry
Chemical compounds isolated from S. flavescens include: Matrine and matrine oxide, quinolizidine alkaloids found in the roots Kushenin, a pterocarpan and isoflavonoidSchwarte A 2002 Phytochemische und pharmakologische Untersuchungen der Wurzeln von Sophora flavescens,unter besonderer Berücksichtigung ihrer Wirkung auf die Leukotrien- und Prostaglandinbiosynthese Sophoraflavanone G 7,9,2',4'-Tetrahydroxy-8-isopentenyl-5-methoxychalcone Sophoridine Kurarinone Trifolirhizin, a pterocarpan flavonoid, isolated from the roots 8-Prenylkaempferol, a prenylflavonoid Oxysophocarpine and sophocarpine, alkaloids
Toxicity Toxic effects from use of the root may include nausea, dizziness, vomiting, constipation, spasms, disturbance of speech, irregular breathing, respiratory failure and death.
References
External links Sophora flavescens Ait.