草原车轴草 cao yuan che zhou cao

Annual herbs, pubescent to glabrescent. Stems erect, as­cending, or prostrate. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; stipules ovate to oblong, 5-8 mm, adnate to petiole for 1/2 their length, apex acuminate; petioles shorter than or equal to leaflets; lat­eral leaflets sessile, terminal petiolule 3-7 mm; leaflets obovate to oblong-elliptic, 8-16 × 4-8 mm, lateral veins 5-8 pairs, base cuneate, margins entire proximally, serrate distally, apex rounded to emarginate. Flowers 20-40, imbricate in globose or cylindric racemes, 8-13 × 7-10 mm; peduncle 1-3 cm; involu­cre and bracts absent; pedicels 1-1.8 mm, reflexed after anthe­sis. Calyx white, 2-2.8 mm, membranous, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, veins 5. Corolla yellow, turning brown, (3-)5-6 mm; standard broadly spatulate, striate, apex emarginate. Legume long ovoid, ca. 3 mm; stipe ca. 1 mm. Seed 1, brown, convex-ovoid, ca. 1 mm. Fl. and fr. Feb-Apr.

Cultivated, escaped, and naturalized; roadsides, grasslands, dis­turbed areas. Hebei, Jiangsu, Shaanxi [native to N Africa, SW Asia, and Europe].