铃铛刺 ling dang ci

Robinia halodendron Pallas, Reise Russ. Reich. 2: 741. 1773; Caragana argentea Lamarck, nom. illeg. superfl.; C. halodendron (Pallas) Dumont de Courset; Halimodendron argenteum Candolle, nom. illeg. superfl.; H. argenteum var. albiflorum Karelin & Kirilov; H. halodendron var. albiflorum (Karelin & Kirilov) Prjachin.

Shrubs, 0.5-2 m tall. Bark dark grayish brown. Branches many, vegetative and reproductive; reproductive branches brown to grayish yellow, sulcate, glabrous; young branches with dense white appressed trichomes. Rachis and petiole persistent, spine-shaped; petiole and petiolules very short; leaflet blades oblanceolate, 1.2-3 × 0.6-1 cm, with dense silvery white tri­chomes at first, glabrescent, base cuneate, apex rounded or emarginate. Racemes 2-5-flowered; peduncle 1.5-3 cm, densely sericeous. Flowers 1-1.6 cm; pedicel 5-7 mm; bracteoles sub­ulate, ca. 1 mm. Calyx 5-6 mm, with dense appressed tri­chomes, base oblique; teeth triangular. Corolla pale purple or purplish red; standard slightly reflexed at margins, ± as long as wings; wings slightly longer than keel. Ovary glabrous, long stipitate. Legume flattened, 1.5-2.5 × 0.5-1.2 cm, dorsal and ventral line impressed, without septa, apex with a short beak. Seeds reniform. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug. 2n = 16.

Saline sand, saline soils along rivers, forests. Gansu, Nei Mon­gol, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia].