洮河棘豆 tao he ji dou

Herbs, (5-)10-30 cm tall, caulescent, from a much-branched subterranean rhizomatous caudex, clump-forming. Stems thin, diffuse, with 2-6 apparent internodes, with short pubescence. Stipules ovate-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm, with short tri­chomes, basally connate, apex acute. Leaves (3-)5-8(-10) cm, (9-)13-17-foliolate; leaflet blades elliptic, ovate, broadly ovate, suborbicular, or lanceolate-ovate, 5-10 × 2-4 mm, both sur­faces with appressed stout trichomes, base rounded, apex acute to rounded. Racemes compact but becoming elongate and lax in fruit, 3-10-flowered or more; peduncle 3.5-11.5 cm, longer than leaves, with short pubescence; bracts lanceolate, ca. 1.5 mm, almost as long as pedicels, membranous. Calyx campan­ulate, (5.2-)6-7.5(-10) mm, with black and white trichomes intermixed; lobes subulate, 2-3.5(-4.5) mm. Corolla purple and bluish purple; standard 10-14.2 × 6-8 mm, lamina obovate to ovate, apex rounded to emarginate; wings 10-13.5 × ca. 3 mm, lamina narrowly elliptic, apex 2-lobed; keel 1-1.4 cm, beak (0.5-)2.5-3.5 mm. Legume stipitate; stipe as long as calyx; body cylindric, 2-3 × ca. 0.5 cm, erect or slightly incurved, in­flated, 1-locular, with appressed short pubescence. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Sep.

● Meadows, roadsides, hilltops, sandy sites in valleys; 2000-3400 m. Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan.