Tree of the day: Sophora tetraptera, Large-leaved kowhai, Harris Garden
Sophora tetraptera is a species of evergreen broadleaf flowering plants (in the Fabaceae or Legume, pea or bean family), native to the North Island of New Zealand.
Sophora tetraptera is a species of evergreen broadleaf flowering plants (in the Fabaceae or Legume, pea or bean family), native to the North Island of New Zealand. It is a small tree, of up to 15 metres, which grows by streams and lakes and in forest margins in its native habitat. It has 10–20 pairs of small elliptical or oblong leaves arranged on opposite sides of each stem (a compound leaf of many leaflets, in botanical terms). In spring the tree produces hanging bunches of yellow bell-shaped or tubular flowers, which by autumn turn to strings of small woody pods, each with four ridges along its length.
about this species
See close-up photos of this species
This photo is one of 9577 photos of 865 trees in 327 species
This website is a virtual arboretum, created for interest, education and beauty. It exhibits some of the thousands of trees, of both native and exotic species, that grow in Whiteknights Park, the main campus of the University of Reading. Many of them have been planted since the university arrived in 1947, but some have been here since the 19th century or earlier, when Whiteknights was the gardens and parkland of large houses. More than a hundred of the trees are listed in The Tree Register, nine as British Isles champions (the largest or tallest of their species).
Please send any comments about this website to whiteknights-trees@reading.ac.uk.
The previous version of this website is here.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank: Rupert Taylor, Owen Johnson, Alastair Culham, Jonathan Mitchley, Marcus Wheeler, Benoît Vannière, Miguel Teixeira and Claire Hawkins for tree identifications; Brian Hunt and Trevor Smith for testing routes and contributing text; Dylan Parkes, Martin Watts, Emilija Rudzinskaite, Brian and Trevor for collaboration on the centenary project; Dan Hodson for useful code examples; Studio Lift for website style; Brian, Trevor and Nathanaël van Twillert for comments and suggestions on website user experience; Benoît, Marcus, Steve George, Brian, Trevor, the Friends of the University of Reading, and other friends for their encouragement during the development of the website; the University and its grounds staff for maintaining Whiteknights Park.