蒙西黄耆 meng xi huang qi

Astragalus candidissimus Ledebour var. pauciflorus Kryl­ov & Sergievskaya.

Plants 8-23 cm tall. Stems solitary or several, 2-10 cm, very densely covered with asymmetrically to strongly asym­metrically bifurcate, often flexuous, subappressed to ascending, white hairs ca. 1 mm. Leaves 5-18 cm; stipules 5-7 mm, rather densely hairy like stem; petiole 2-5 cm, with rachis densely hairy like stem; leaflets in 7-14 pairs, (5-)7-15 × 4-8 mm, both surfaces densely to rather densely covered with asymmetrically bifurcate white hairs 1-1.5 mm, abaxially with ± flexuous, tangled, subappressed hairs, adaxially with ± appressed, straight hairs. Racemes short, densely (3-)5-8-flowered; peduncle (2-)3-7 cm, densely hairy like stem; bracts 4-8 mm, with sub­basifixed to basifixed white hairs. Calyx 11-12 mm, densely covered with symmetrically or asymmetrically bifurcate, flexu­ous, subappressed to slightly ascending, white hairs ca. 1 mm, with a few short black hairs mixed in; teeth unequal, 1.2-3.5 mm. Petals pinkish violet; standard obovate, 18-19 × ca. 7 mm, apex emarginate; wings 17-18 mm; keel 15-16 mm. Legumes globose, 13-15 in diam., slightly grooved ventrally, distinctly grooved dorsally, with a beak 1-2 mm; valves densely covered with asymmetrically to strongly asymmetrically bifurcate, tangled, subappressed to ascending, white hairs 1-1.5 mm.

Xinjiang [Kazakhstan].