矮生野决明 ai sheng ye jue ming

Thermopsis alpina (Pallas) Ledebour var. humilis Czefran­ova.

Perennial herbs, 7-12(-15) cm tall. Stems erect, 2-4-branched, quadrangular, white villous, base articulate; leaves at base 3 verticillate and connate into a tawny membranous sheath. Stipules 10-16 mm; leaflets obovate to narrowly elliptic, 1.5-2 × 0.5-0.7 cm, white villous abaxially, glabrous adaxially, base tapering, apex obtuse, rarely mucronate. Racemes short, 3-5 cm; flowers 3 verticillate; bracts broadly ovate, acute. Calyx ca. 1.5 cm, slightly gibbous. Corolla bright yellow, ca. 2 cm, petals long clawed. Ovary subsessile, 3-5-ovuled, densely hairy. Legume elliptic, oblong, or obovate, 3-6 × 1.5-2.5 cm, base tapering, apex obtuse, shortly beaked; valves membranous, tawny when dry, white villous. Seeds 1-4, dark scarlet, ellip­soid, 6-7 × ca. 5 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug.

● Mountain slopes; 3500-4500 m. W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yun­nan.