多花胡枝子 duo hua hu zhi zi

Lespedeza dielsiana Schindler; L. floribunda var. alopecu­roides Franchet; L. stottsae L. H. Bailey.

Subshrubs, small, 30-60(-100) cm tall. Branchlets grayish white tomentose. Leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets obovate, broadly obovate, or oblong, terminal one 1-1.5 × 0.6-0.9 cm, abaxially densely white adpressed pubescent, adaxially sparsely ad­pressed hairy, base cuneate, apex emarginate, obtuse-rounded, or subtruncate, mucronate. Racemes axillary; peduncle slender, distinctly overtopping leaves. Flowers numerous. Calyx 4-5 mm, 5-lobed; lobes lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, upper 2 lobes connate at lower part, free above. Corolla purple, purplish red, or bluish purple; standard elliptic, ca. 8 mm, base clawed, apex rounded; wings slightly short; keel longer than standard, apex obtuse. Legume broadly ovoid, ca. 7 mm, overtopping persis­tent calyx, densely pubescent, reticulate veined. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.

Rocky mountain slopes; below 1300 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, SW Liaoning, ?Nei Mon­gol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, ?Zhejiang [India, Pakistan; naturalized in Japan].

Following Li and Chen (FRPS 41: 148. 1995), one of us (Huang) retains Lespedeza stottsae (Gentes Herb. 1: 32. 1920), described from Jigong Shan, Henan, and L. dielsiana (Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 10: 404. 1912), described from Sichuan, here in synonymy due to the lack of authentic specimens. Two of us (Ohashi and Nemoto) agree that these entities are conspecific with L. floribunda.