sophora

See also: Sophora

English
S. tomentosa’s pea-like seed pods

Etymology

From Translingual Sophora, from Linnaeus's 1753 New Latin sophora, from an "ancient name" for a similar plant (possibly the medicinal and yellow-flowered Arabian Senna sophera), presumably derived from the Arabic triliteral root صفر‎ and usually associated with the adjective صفير‎ (ṣufayrā', “yellowish”), from أَصْفَر‏‎‎ (ʾaṣfar, “yellow”), under influence of Ancient Greek σοφός (sophós, “wise”) in order to make a pun.[1]

Noun

sophora (plural sophoras)

  1. Any of the genus Sophora of small trees and shrubs related to the pea.
    • 2007 October 28, Ellen Pall, “Meet the Neighbors”, in New York Times‎:
      Then Dr. Day allowed herself to become distracted by a tree on the other side of 83rd Street, a sophora tree.

Further reading
  1. "Sophora" at Trees & Shrubs Online.
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