Sophora tomentosa Occidentalis
Family: Fabaceae
Plant Description: Hairy evergreen shrub to 1.7 m high. Leaves pinnate with gray-green leaflets 2-5 cm long. Flowers in long racemes, the upper petal 1.8-2.5 cm long, yellow, strongly bilateral, pea shaped. Fruits are legumes up to 35 cm long, constricted between the seeds, resembling a short string of beads.
Plant Trivia: This plant will die back during server drought but will bounce back when it rains. Responds well to server pruning.
Field Identification:
Occurrence: Along bay beaches and on flats or low dunes of the barrier islands.
Bloom Period: April-November
Plant Use: Landscape ornamental.
Key to species of Sophora:
- Flowers yellow……………………………………………………..S. tomentosa occidentalis
Flowers violet………………………………………………………………………....S. segundiflora
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