小花棘豆 xiao hua ji dou

Astragalus glaber (Candolle) Lamarck (1811), not Can­dolle (1802), nor Michaux (1803); Oxytropis diffusa Ledebour; O. drakeana Franchet; O. glabra var. drakeana (Franchet) C. W. Chang; O. glabra var. tenuis Palibin; O. glareosa Vassil­czenko; O. salina Vassilczenko; O. tenuis Palibin.

Herbs, (8-)20-80(-100) cm tall, caulescent, tuft-forming. Stems erect (or sprawling), with 2-4 or more apparent inter­nodes from a multiheaded caudex, with many branches, with appressed trichomes. Stipules ovate to lanceolate-ovate, herba­ceous, basally connate, distinct part (2-)5-10 mm. Leaves (3-)5-15 cm, 11-29-foliolate; leaflet blades lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic, (4-)5-25 × (1-)3-7 mm, abaxially sparsely pubescent, adaxially glabrous or strigose, base rounded to broadly truncate, apex acute to retuse. Racemes 4-7 cm, lax, few to many flowered; peduncle (2-)5-20 cm, slightly shorter to longer than leaves; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 1-2 mm, membranous, with sparse trichomes, apex acute. Flowers spreading to declined. Calyx campanulate, (2.2-)4-5 mm, appressed white pubescent; lobes lanceolate, triangular, or sub­ulate, 1.5-2 mm. Corolla purple to bluish purple; standard (5-)7-8(-10) mm, lamina orbicular, apex slightly emarginate; wings (5-)6-7 mm, apex rounded; keel (4.2-)5-6 mm, beak 0.2-0.5 mm. Legume stipitate; stipe 1-2.5 mm; body sub­cylindric, 1-2 × 0.3-0.5 cm, pendulous, slightly inflated, mem­branous, 1-locular, with appressed white or white and black tri­chomes, glabrescent, beak 1-1.5 mm. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 16.

Hillsides, roadsides, sandy areas, scrub, damp places, floodplains, fields, sandy flats, semistabilized sand dunes, steppes, desert meadows; 400-4400 m. Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qing­hai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Xinjiang, Xizang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].

"Oxytropis puberula" (Borissova, Trudy Tadzhikistansk. Bazy 2: 169. 1936) belongs here but was not validly published because no Latin description or diagnosis was provided (Vienna Code, Art. 36.1).