廉荚黄耆 lian jia huang qi

Astragalus gyzensis Delile var. arpilobus (Karelin & Kir­ilov) Boissier.

Plants with white hairs 0.2-1 mm. Stems 1-30 cm, loosely to rather densely spreading hairy. Leaves 1.5-10 cm; stipules whitish to greenish, 1-3.5 mm, hairy; petiole 1-3.5 cm, with rachis hairy like stem; leaflets in 1-3(-5) pairs, ovate to obo­vate, 4-20 × 2-10 mm, abaxially densely covered with as­cending hairs, adaxially loosely covered with appressed hairs, apex rounded, truncate, or retuse. Racemes loosely 2-7-flow­ered; peduncle 0.3-3.5 cm, hairy like stem; bracts 1-1.5 mm, hairy. Calyx shortly tubular, 3-4(-6) mm, rather densely ap­pressed hairy; teeth 1-1.5 mm. Petals whitish pink or more rarely violet; standard 6-8(-10) mm, limb elliptic, 2-5 mm wide, cuneately narrowed at base, apex emarginate; wings 5-7 mm; keel 5-6 mm. Legumes linear, distinctly and to semi­circular curved, 1-3 cm, 2.5-3.5 mm high and wide, with a curved, short beak, nearly completely 2-locular; valves thin, straw-colored to pale brownish, loosely to rather densely covered with appressed hairs 0.2-0.3 mm and with ascending hairs 0.7-1.2 mm, often inserted in small tubercles.

Sandy soil, semideserts, pebbles, gypsum. Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia (Iran)].

Astragalus arpilobus subsp. arpilobus is the only subspecies found in China.