长梗木蓝 chang geng mu lan

Indigofera liukiuensis Makino.

Herbs, trailing, to 35 cm tall. Stems many branched, gray pubescent and glandular, glabrescent. Stipules narrowly trian­gular. Leaves 1.4-1.7 cm, 3-foliolate; petiole 5-6 mm; leaflet blades obovate to obovate-lanceolate, 3.7-10 × 3-6 mm, abax­ially with yellowish dots, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate to narrowly cuneate, apex emarginate or obtuse. Racemes 1.3-2.5 cm but elongating in fruit to 3.5 cm, 8-12-flowered; peduncle 5-9 mm; bracts to 1 mm. Pedicel 3-5 mm. Corolla red, 6-7 mm; standard obovate, ca. 5 mm, outside appressed pubescent and glandular; wings ca. 4.5 mm, glabrous; keel spatulate, ca. 5 mm, outside pubescent and glandular. Stamens 4.5-5 mm. Ovary glabrous. Legume straight, 4-sided in cross section, 1.5-2.5 cm × 2-2.5 mm, narrowly winged. Seeds 5-8 per legume. Fl. May-Nov, fr. Jul-Dec. 2n = 16.

Open seashores; below 100 m. Taiwan (Hengchun Peninsula) [India].

This record is based on Sanjappa (Taiwania 29: 111-112. 1984), who drew attention to the unusual disjunct distribution. The material was originally misidentified as Indigofera trifoliata (T. C. Huang & H. Ohashi, Fl. Taiwan 3: 309. 1977).