灰岩木蓝 hui yan mu lan

Shrubs, 30-120 cm tall, many branched, all parts except for old stems with very dense appressed silvery medifixed 2-branched trichomes. Old stems grayish brown; lateral branches short. Stipules ovate, ca. 0.5 mm. Leaves 1-2.5 cm, 5-9-folio­late; petiole and rachis adaxially slightly grooved; petiole 3-7 mm; stipels ca. 0.1 mm, covered with silvery trichomes, usually not visible; petiolules ca. 0.5 mm; leaflet blades opposite, ob­cordate to obovate, 4-5 × 2.5-3 mm, midvein adaxially im­pressed, secondary veins not visible, base broadly cuneate to rounded, apex rounded to emarginate. Racemes 1-5 cm; pedun­cle 4-10 mm; bracts ca. 0.8 mm, caducous. Pedicel ca. 1 mm. Calyx ca. 2 mm; teeth ovate-oblong, as long as tube, margin ciliate. Corolla red; standard elliptic-oblong to ovate-oblong, ca. 7 mm, outside densely hairy; wings ca. 7 mm, outside hairy; keel ca. 7 mm. Stamens 5-6.5 mm; anthers ovoid, apex mu­cronate. Ovary hairy; style glabrous. Legume cylindric, 1.5-2.5 cm, with dense appressed grayish white medifixed trichomes, apex mucronate; endocarp purplish red blotched. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug.

● Dry stony situations; 1800-2500 m. Yunnan.

The syntypes of this species, G. Forrest 10350 (K) and 10505 (E), were collected from the Jinsha Jiang dry valley; the type of Indigofera lenticellata, E. H. Wilson 3386 (K), was collected from the Min Jiang dry valley. The two valleys have the same dry climate, but the Jinsha Jiang is hotter than Min Jiang. The two species may prove to be just one species and need to be further researched.