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Sophora microphylla

Species of plant

Summary

Species of plant

Sophora microphylla, commonly known as weeping kōwhai and small-leaved kōwhai, is a species of flowering tree in the family Fabaceae native to New Zealand. It is the most widespread of the eight species of kōwhai (the New Zealand Sophora). It is also called South Island kōwhai, although this name is misleading as it is widely distributed throughout the main islands of the country.

Growing to 8 m tall and broad, it is an evergreen shrub or small tree. Each leaf is 10 cm long with up to 40 pairs of shiny oval leaflets. It produces many racemes of pea-like yellow flowers from August or as early as May through to October. The specific epithet microphylla means "small-leaved". The plant has smaller leaflets (around 3–6 mm long by 2–5 mm wide) and flowers (1.8-5.0 cm long)

It occurs throughout the main islands of New Zealand, though is scarce in parts of Northland and parts of the eastern North Island from East Cape south to northern Wairarapa.

The cultivar 'Hilsop' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Ecology

Sophora microphylla is one of three known native species that hosts the native longhorn beetle Coptomma variegatum.

Its nectar is toxic to the honeybee.

Pre-human forests

Studies of accumulated dried vegetation in the pre-human mid-late Holocene period suggests a low Sophora microphylla forest ecosystem in Central Otago that was used and perhaps maintained by giant moa birds, for both nesting material and food. Neither the forests nor moa existed when European settlers came to the area in the 1850s.

Sophora-microphylla-foliage.jpg|Foliage Sophora microphylla.(Kowhai) (14901091036).jpg|Flowers Sophora microphylla MHNT.BOT.2008.1.46.jpg|Seeds

References

References

  1. (2008). "RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants". Dorling Kindersley.
  2. de Lange, P. J.. "Sophora microphylla". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network.
  3. Harrison, Lorraine. (2012). "RHS Latin for gardeners". Mitchell Beazley.
  4. "Facts about kōwhai". Department of Conservation.
  5. "RHS Plant Selector - ''Sophora microphylla'' 'Hilsop'".
  6. (July 2017). "AGM Plants - Ornamental". Royal Horticultural Society.
  7. {{CiteQ. Q56166058
  8. (2012). "Cardenolides in nectar may be more than a consequence of allocation to other plant parts: a phylogenetic study of Asclepias". Functional Ecology.
  9. Pole, Mike. (2021-12-31). "A vanished ecosystem: Sophora microphylla (Kōwhai) dominated forest recorded in mid-late Holocene rock shelters in Central Otago, New Zealand". Palaeontologia Electronica.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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