尼泊尔鱼鳔槐 ni bo er yu biao huai

Colutea arborescens Linnaeus var. nepalensis (Sims) Baker.

Shrubs, deciduous, 1-3 m tall. Old branches reddish brown to brunescent, glabrous, glossy; annual branches white to white-green. Leaves pinnate, 7-13-foliolate, often clustered at new branch bases, 4-10 cm; rachis sparsely pubescent; stipules tri­angular; leaflets often opposite; petiolules ca. 1 mm; leaflet blades elliptic to obovate, 6-16 × 7-11 mm, both surfaces sparsely pubescent or adaxially glabrous, lateral veins incon­spicuous, base rounded to nearly truncate, apex with incon­spicuous mucro. Racemes subequal to leaves, 3-10-flowered; peduncle 8-10 cm, pubescent; bract ovate-lanceolate, both bracteoles and bract pubescent. Flowers to 2.4 cm. Calyx out­side with hairs; upper 2 teeth broadly triangular, lower 3 linear, slightly curved. Corolla yellow; standard deflexed, 20-22 × ca. 19 mm, stalk 5-6 mm, calluses oblong, rounded but margin free at apex; wings ca. 15 mm, stalk ca. 6 mm, upper stalk auricu­late, ca. 3 × 1.5 mm, irregular at apex; keel connate, suborbicu­lar, 10-11 × 7-8 mm, apex beaked, stalk 9-10 mm. Ovary com­planate, oblong-lanceolate, densely pubescent; stipe ca. 3.5 mm; style ca. 10 mm, curved, hook-curved at apex, ventrally with longitudinal cirrus; stigma terminal, small. Legume oblong, 4-5.5 × 2-2.5 cm, with groove along ventral suture, pubescent, with curved fruit stalk at base, acute to rounded at apex; seg­ments thinly leathery. Seed smooth. Fl. and fr. Jun-Jul.

Mountain slopes, riverside gravel, among shrubs. W Qinghai (Hai­xi Diqu), W Xizang (Ngari Diqu) [Afghanistan, India, Pakistan].