青海棘豆 qing hai ji dou

Oxytropis qinghaiensis Y. H. Wu (1997).

Herbs, 15-40 cm tall, caulescent, tufted, much branched from a superficial caudex. Stems prostrate or sprawling, with (0 or)1-4 or more apparent internodes, densely white hispid. Stipules triangular-lanceolate, white hispid, basal half connate. Leaves (1.8-)5-12 cm; leaflets 13-29, opposite or subopposite, subsessile; leaflet blades ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or lanceolate, 3-12 × 2-7 mm, both surfaces densely white long pilose or pi­losulose, base rounded, apex acuminate to obtuse. Racemes initially capitate, elongating to 1.5-2.5 cm in fruit, 5-13-flow­ered; peduncle (3-)6-16 cm, surpassing leaves, with spreading to ascending trichomes, crinkly below, straight above; bracts lanceolate, 4-7 mm, hispid. Calyx campanulate, (5-)6-8 mm, black and white hispid; lobes 1.8-2.7 mm, shorter than to as long as tube. Corolla purple to bluish purple, turning bluish with age; standard 1-1.1 cm, lamina obovate, apex slightly emarginate; wings 0.9-1.1 cm, apex rounded; keel 8-9.5 mm, beak 0.2-0.5 mm. Legume stipitate; stipe 1.5-2 mm; body ob­long, 12-16 × 4.5-7 mm, densely white and black hispid, apex hooked. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

● Floodplains, sunny slopes, roadsides, pebble terraces, sandy areas; 3400-4700 m. Qinghai.

Y. H. Wu named Oxytropis qinghaiensis twice (Novon 6: 187. 1996; Acta Bot. Boreal.-Occid. Sin. 17: 109. 1997), each time with a different type, so the two names are homonyms but also taxonomic synonyms. An apparent third homonym (Y. H. Wu, Acta Bot. Yunnan. 19: 36. 1997) is actually O. qingnanensis; see the comments under that species (p. 495).