冰川棘豆 bing chuan ji dou

Oxytropis glacialis Bentham ex Bunge; O. nivalis Fran­chet.

Herbs, 3-17 cm tall, acaulescent, from a multiheaded cau­dex, densely cinereous pubescent. Stipules ovate, membranous, densely sericeous with long trichomes, free from petiole, bas­ally connate. Leaves 2-12 cm, 9-19-foliolate; rachis with small glands; leaflet blades oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 3-10 × 1.5-3 mm, sericeous with spreading long trichomes. Racemes com­pact, 6-10-flowered; peduncle 4-15 cm, equaling to much longer than leaves, with dense white and black incurved tri­chomes; bracts linear, slightly shorter than calyx tube, with sparse white and black trichomes. Calyx 4-6 mm, with dense black or white trichomes intermixed with black long trichomes; lobes lanceolate, shorter than tube. Corolla purple, bluish pur­ple, or seldom white; standard 5-9 × ca. 5 mm, lamina orbic­ular, apex emarginate to rounded; wings ca. 7 mm, lamina obo­vate to oblong, apex emarginate; keel ca. 6 mm, beak subtri­angular, very short. Legume shortly stipitate; body ovoid to oblong-ovoid, 5-7 × 4-6 mm, inflated, membranous, 1-locular, with spreading dense white long and black short trichomes, sep­tum absent, adaxial suture emarginate, beak erect. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

● Desert grasslands, gravelly areas, lakeshores, sunny dry slopes, floodplains, cold meadows, sand dunes; 4100-5300 m. Gansu, Xin­jiang, Xizang, Yunnan.