Sophora japonica 'Pendula' (Chinese Scholar Tree)

Overview

A strongly weeping form, this selection is useful as an accent plant due to its flowing, pendulous branches that are elegant with age. The smooth green stems are showy during the winter. This form rarely flowers and grows 15' to 25' tall with age. It is often grafted on a standard .

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Chinese Scholar Tree, Weeping Japanese Pagoda Tree

Description

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Genus Sophora

Perennial herbs, shrubs or trees . Leaves imparipinnate ; stipules minute or absent. Inflorescence a many flowered terminal racemes or panicle. Bracts linear , minute or absent. Calyx campanulate , teeth five, unequal, shortly triangular. Corolla cream or yellow, vexillum somewhat longer than the wings and keel. Stamens free or connate at the base . Ovary shortly stipitate , ovules many, style incurved , stigma terminal. Fruit a moniliform lomentum.

A genus of about 80 species, distributed in warm temperate regions of both hemispheres; represented in Pakistan by 6 species including the 3 cultivated ones.[1]

Physical Description

ID Features: Olive-green bark on stems and young branches with raised tan lenticels. Fleshy, greenish pod as a fruit with constrictions between seeds. Upright wide spreading habit. Pea-like flowers. Terminal infructescence persists.

Habit: A deciduous medium to large tree with a rounded shape . Branching is flowing, pendulous.

Flowers: Rare. Pale yellow to creamy white. Pea-like. Hang in 6" to 12" long clusters . Bloom time is August. Slightly fragrant. • Bloom Period: n/a • Flower Color: inconspicuous, none

Seeds: Fruit: A 3" to 8" green pod. A loment, with constriction between each seed like a string of beads . Green pods turn yellow and eventually brown in October; somewhat. persistent .

Foliage: Summer foliage: Alternate, pinnately compound leaves. Leaves are 6" to 10" long. Possess 7 to 17 leaflets . Each leaflet is 1" to 2" long. Leaflets mature from bright to dark green. Leaflets are lustrous . Casts light shade. • Fall foliage: No fall color. Leaves drop green or yellow-green.

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 15' to 25' tall with age.

Landscaping

Landscape Uses: A strongly weeping form, this selection is useful as an accent plant due to its flowing, pendulous branches that are elegant with age. Lawn tree . Street tree. Urban conditions. Parks. Campuses. For flowering effect. Turf grows well beneath due to light shade. • Liabilities: Twig kill in severe winters. Canker that is made worse by cold injury. Can be messy due to dropped petals, fruit, and leaves.

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Full sun . Grows best in moist, fertile , well-drained soil. Tolerant of pollution . Plants less than 1.5" in caliper are especially prone to winter injury.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Plantae () - Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae () - Cavalier-Smith, 1981
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta () - Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: Euphyllophytina ()
        Class: Spermatopsida () - Brongniart, 1843
        Subclass: Rosidae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Superorder: Rosanae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Order: Fabales () - Bromhead, 1838
        Family: Leguminosae () - A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons.
        Subfamily: Papilionoideae ()
        Tribe: Sophoreae ()
        Genus: Sophora () - C. Linnaeus, 1753 - Necklacepod
        Specific epithet: japonica - Linnaeus
        Cultivar: Pendula
        Botanical name: - Sophora japonica 'Pendula' Linnaeus