木黄耆 mu huang qi

Astragalus eremothamnus Karelin & Kirilov; A. horizon­talis Karelin & Kirilov.

Plants subshrubs, 50-120 cm tall, covered with mostly medifixed, appressed, in vegetative parts nearly only white hairs 0.6-1(-1.2) mm. Stems several, branched near base, older parts (10-)30-80 cm, ligneous, covered with longitudinally splitting bark; branches of current year 5-20(-30) cm, densely hairy. Leaves 3-5 cm, subsessile; stipules 3-4 mm, shortly adnate to petiole, densely hairy; rachis 1-2 cm, rather densely hairy; leaflets in 2-4 pairs, linear, (8-)12-40 × (1-)1.5-3(-7) mm, abaxially somewhat densely and adaxially loosely hairy, apex acute. Racemes ovoid, 2-3(-4) cm, densely 8-22-flow­ered; peduncle 7-10 cm, densely hairy; bracts 1-2(-3) mm, mostly black ciliate. Calyx 7-10 mm, sparsely to densely covered with strongly asymmetrically bifurcate, flexuous, ascending, white hairs up to 1 mm and with distinctly shorter, subappressed, black hairs 0.1-0.3 mm; teeth 1.5-2 mm. Petals purple; standard rhombic, 15-19 × ca. 6 mm, apex retuse; wings 14-17 mm; keel 11-14 mm. Legumes sessile, spreading or rarely nodding, straight, 20-30 mm, (1.5-)2 mm thick, apex shortly acuminate; valves densely covered with symmetrically or asymmetrically bifurcate, appressed, black hairs 0.3-0.6 mm and with distinctly asymmetrically bifurcate, appressed to slightly ascending, white hairs 0.6-0.8 mm, rarely only with white hairs.

Steppes, semideserts. NW Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia (Siberia)].