毛荚苜蓿 mao jia mu xu

Trigonella pubescens Edgeworth ex Baker in J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 2: 88. 1876; Medicago pubescens (Edgeworth ex Baker) Širjaev (1928), not Candolle (1813); Melilotoides pu­bescens (Edgeworth ex Baker) Yakovlev.

Perennial herbs, 30-40 cm. Stems erect or ascending, branched at base, terete, densely hairy. Stipules ovate-lanceo­late, 5-8(-10) mm, base rounded to hastate, margin entire, apex acuminate; petiole 2-6 mm; leaflets obovate to long obovate, (6-)10(-15) × (4-)7(-10) mm, scattered pubescent on both surfaces, especially dense on midrib abaxially, lateral veins 8-13 pairs, straightly running to teeth, base broadly cuneate, mar­gin serrulate in upper 1/2, apex rounded, abruptly shortly acu­minate. Flowers (1 or)2 or 3(-6) scattered in axillary heads; peduncles slightly longer than leaves; bracts ca. 1.5 mm; pedi­cels less than 2 mm. Corolla yellow, ca. 5 mm. Ovary oblong, densely tomentose; ovules 12-14. Legume oblong, 12-16 × 4-5 mm, flat, densely appressed pubescent, veins close, trans­verse, base rounded, sessile, apex acute, shortly beaked, sutures obvious. Seeds 10-12, dark brown, ovate-elliptic, ca. 2 × 1 mm, smooth. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Sep.

Grasslands, open fields, roadsides; 2500-3500 m. Qinghai, Si­chuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Afghanistan, India, Pakistan].