Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Fabales Bromhead
Family
Leguminosae
Genus
Sophora L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Sophora tetraptera J.F.Mill. (1780)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Edwardsia tetraptera (J.F.Mill.) W.R.B.Oliv., Trans. New Zealand Inst. 53: 364 (1921)
  • = Edwardsia grandiflora Salisb., Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 9: 299 (1808)
Vernacular Name(s):
Kōwhai; Large-leaved kowhai; North Island kowhai
 Description

Tree up to c. 12 m. tall, trunk up to 6 dm. diam. Branches spreading, young branchlets clad in fulvellous tomentum (juveniles not of divaricating form). Lvs up to 15 cm. or more long, with 10–20 pairs of lflts, sts more. Lflts 1·5–3·5 cm. × 5–8 mm., ovate to elliptic-oblong, clad above and below with silky appressed hairs, midrib distinct below. Fls up to 5 cm. long, in 4–10-fld racemes, golden yellow. Calyx 1–1·5 cm. long, clad in appressed silky hairs; standard c. 3 cm. long; wings c. 3·5 cm. long; keel c. 4·5 cm. long. Pods up to 2 dm. long, broadly winged; seeds 6 or more, yellowish, c. 7 mm. long.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Heenan, P.B.; de Lange, P.J.; Wilton, A.D. 2001: Sophora (Fabaceae) in New Zealand: taxonomy, distribution, and biogeography. New Zealand Journal of Botany 39(1): 17–53.
Oliver, W.R.B. 1921: Notes on Specimens of New Zealand Ferns and Flowering-plants in London Herbaria. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 53: 362–365.
Transactions of the Linnean Society of London