川西锦鸡儿 chuan xi jin ji er

Caragana maximovicziana Komarov; C. spinifera Kom­arov.

Shrubs to 60 cm tall. Old branches greenish brown; cur­rent-year branchlets yellowish brown to reddish brown. Leaves pinnate on long branches and 4-8-foliolate, digitate on short branches and 4-foliolate; petiole and rachis 1.5-2 cm and per­sistent on long branchlets, 2-15 mm and persistent or caducous on short branchlets; leaflet blades linear-oblanceolate to obo­vate-oblong, 3-12 × 1-2.5 mm, abaxially pilose, adaxially gla­brous, apex acute. Flowers solitary or to 4 in a fascicle. Pedicel very short, appressed pubescent or glabrous. Calyx tube tubular, 8-10 mm. Corolla yellow but standard sometimes reddish pur­ple, 1.8-2.5 cm; standard broadly ovate to oblong-obovate; wings with claw ± as long as limb, auricle very small; keel with claw longer than limb. Ovary glabrous or sparsely to densely pubescent. Legume 1.5-2 cm, glabrous or pilose. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 16*, 32*.

● Forest margins, slopes in grasslands, riverbanks, sand dunes; 2000-4600 m. Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan.