九叶木蓝 jiu ye mu lan

Hedysarum prostratum Linnaeus, Mant. Pl. 1: 102. 1767, not Indigofera prostrata Willdenow (1802); I. dominii Eichler; I. tsiangiana F. P. Metcalf.

Shrublets or perennial herbs, usually prostrate, sometimes ascending, 20-90 cm tall. Stems with appressed medifixed sub­symmetrically 2-branched trichomes. Stipules ovate, 3-4 × ca. 2 mm, apex acuminate. Leaves 1.5-3 cm, 5-9-foliolate; petiole and petiolules with appressed medifixed trichomes; stipels not visible; leaflet blades alternate, obovate to narrowly obovate, 5-10(-15) × 2-3(-5) mm, both surfaces with medifixed 2-branched trichomes, secondary veins not visible, base cuneate, apex obtuse to truncate and with a ca. 0.1 mm mucro. Racemes 0.5-2.5 cm, sessile; bracts ovate to triangular, 2-2.5 × ca. 1 mm. Pedicels, bracts, and calyces with medifixed trichomes. Pedicel ca. 0.5 mm. Calyx 2-2.5 mm, with appressed medifixed trichomes; tube ca. 1 mm; teeth narrowly triangular, 1-1.5 mm. Corolla red; standard red to orangish red, broadly ovate to orbicular, 3-4.5 × 2.5-4 mm, outside hairy; wings 3-4 × 1-1.5 mm, glabrous, margin shortly ciliate; keel 3-4 × ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous, margin shortly ciliate, lateral spur ca. 0.5 mm. Sta­mens 2.5-4 mm; anthers glabrous. Ovary densely strigose, with (1 or)2 or 3 ovules. Legume oblong, straight, spreading, 3-8 × 1.5-2 mm, densely hairy, apex slightly beaked; endocarp not blotched. Seeds (1 or)2 or 3 per legume, dark brown, cubic, ca. 1 × 1 mm. Fl. Jun-Nov, fr. Nov-Dec. 2n = 16, 32.

Sandy ground near rivers or seashores, dry open places, sunny trailsides; 100-700(-1200) m. Hainan, S Sichuan, Yunnan [India, Indo­nesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia].

The name Indigofera enneaphylla Linnaeus has been incorrectly applied to this species. As now lectotypified, this name is an illegitimate synonym of Psoralea pinnata Linnaeus.