Styphnolobium japonicum

The Japanese pagoda tree or Chinese scholar tree is in the pea or Fabaceae family and is native to China and introduced into Japan.

• Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound, with 9–21 leaflets , individual leaflets ovate to oblong, up to 5 cm long.
• Species is monoecious. Flowers are creamy white, 2.5 cm long, pea-like, on 5–8 cm panicles (branched stems), appearing in late summer.
• Fruit is individual beans with outer green casings, up to 1.5 cm long, connected in strings (looks somewhat like a long pod choked into individual smaller pods).
• Buds are hidden beneath the bark.
• Species can be mistaken for the black locust. However, flowers are about half the size and they are not in a pendulous raceme but are well spaced out at the end portions of branches; they come out in late summer (early August), unlike black locust showing in early spring. Also, the pagoda tree has a spread equal to its height, while the black locust typically grows taller than wide. Lastly, strings of short pods are also distinct.
• The pagoda tree is lacking the ability to form symbioses with rhizobia (nitrogen fixing bacteria) on its roots.