Sophora is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs
in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The
species are native to southeast Europe, southern Asia,
Australasia, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and western South
America. The genus formerly had a broader interpretation
including many other species now treated in other genera,
notably Styphnolobium (pagoda tree genus), which differs in
lacking nitrogen fixing bacteria (rhizobia) on the roots, and
Calia (the mescalbeans). Styphnolobium has galactomannans as
seed polysaccharide reserve, in contrast Sophora contains
arabino-galactans, and Calia amyloid. The Toromiro (Sophora
toromiro) was formerly a common tree in the forests of Easter
Island. The tree fell victim to the deforestation that
eliminated the island's forests by the 18th century, and later
became extinct in the wild. The tree is being reintroduced to
the island in a scientific project partly led jointly by the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Göteborg Botanical Garden,