Sophora flavescens seed

LATIN NAME: SOPHORA FLAVESCENS

COMMON NAME: Shrubby Sophora

The shrubby sophora ambers the small, branching shrub with the pinnate leaves of the many small, oval leaflets and the dense, upright spikes of the small, pea-like, creamy-yellow flowers that open through the summer, the spikes ambering the crown, the slender, beaded pods of the seeds following. The shrub grows into the neat, rounded form, and it stands the cold winters and the dry spells well. It likes the sun, and the well-drained soil.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The medicinal root chemistry of the shrubby sophora gives it a recognised place in the research on the medicinal shrubs of the pea family, and the flavescens species appears in the studies of the root alkaloids and the summer flowering. The work looks at the traditional preparations, the beaded seed pods, and the seed biology. The pharmacognosists value the root compounds, and the growers of the hardy flowering shrubs keep the species in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the sunny garden, the shrubby sophora ambers the summer crown with the yellow spikes. The pea flowers draw the bees, the root has served the traditional remedies for the ages, and the shrub makes the neat specimen and the mixed border plant. It grows well in the well-drained, sunny ground. Amber-spiked, hardy and traditional.

To grow the Shrubby Sophora from seed, drop the seeds into the hot water and leave them to cool, then soak them overnight, sow them into the moist, gritty drills of the pot, keep the pot in the bright, warm spot and water gently, and the seedlings thread up within a few weeks.

Keep the pot bright and gently watered, and pot the seedlings on as they grow. The amber spikes come within the season or two. Set the young shrubs in the sunny, open ground, and the amber spikes will colour through the summer.

Sophora flavescens is a species of plant in the genus Sophora. Ku shen (the root) or kushenin (a flavonoid compound) is a typical traditional Chinese medicine that is found in this plant. It is commonly used for the treatment of viral hepatitis, enteritis, cancer, viral myocarditis, gastrointestinal hemorrhage and skin diseases (such as colpitis, psoriasis and eczema). Its roots contain quinolizidine alkaloids, includying matrine and its oxide, matrine oxide that interfere TNF-alpha and IL-6, suggesting that oxymatrine may inhibit the expression of the above pro-inflammatory cytokines.Matrine also inhibited expression of Substance P and NK-1R in a human model of skin inflammation, as well as acting as an agonist at mu and kappa opioid receptors.