南京木蓝 nan jing mu lan

Shrubs, erect, to 1 m tall. Stems brown, terete; branches with appressed white medifixed symmetrically 2-branched tri­chomes. Stipules bristlelike, ca. 2 mm. Leaves 5-7 cm, 11-19-foliolate; petiole and rachis adaxially grooved, with appressed white medifixed trichomes; petiole 4-6 mm; stipels bristlelike, ca. 0.5 mm; petiolules ca. 1 mm; leaflet blades opposite, ob­long, 8-12 × 4-5 mm, rigidly papery, both surfaces with ap­pressed medifixed trichomes, midvein abaxially prominent and adaxially impressed, secondary veins not visible, base rounded to cuneate, apex obtuse to truncate and mucronate. Racemes ca. 8.5 cm; peduncle 1.4-2 cm; bracts bristlelike, ca. 1 mm, cadu­cous. Pedicel 1-2 mm, with spreading white trichomes. Calyx 2-3 mm; teeth shorter than or as long as tube. Corolla red; standard oblong, 10-11 × 6-7 mm, outside hairy, base cuneate, apex truncate; wings oblong-spatulate, margin ciliate; keel cu­neate, apex ciliate. Stamens 8-9 mm; anthers ovoid, glabrous, apex mucronate. Ovary sparsely hairy, with 5-7 ovules. Fl. Sep, fr. unknown.

● Foothills. Jiangsu (Nanjing).

On the basis of available material, no characters or character com­binations appear to distinguish Indigofera chenii from I. heterantha. The widely separate distributions of Xizang and Yunnan provinces for I. heterantha and near Nanjing in Jiangsu province for I. chenii, however, indicate that more research is needed to establish the status of this species.