阿里锦鸡儿 a li jin ji er

Shrubs. Bark gray-brown; branches short and crowded together, cinereous. Stipules rufous, ovate, membranous, densely fulvous villous. Leaves paripinnate, 8-10-foliolate; rachis per­sistent, rigid to springy, 2-4 cm; leaflet blades yellow­ish green, elliptic-obovate, 6-10 × 3-5 mm, both surfaces densely fulvous villous, apex blunt. Flowers solitary, sessile. Calyx campanulate, ca. 1.7 × 0.7 cm, densely fulvous villous; lobes triangular, ca. 6 mm. Corolla yellow; standard ca. 2.7 cm, limb nearly orbicular ca. 1.8 cm in diam., gradually narrowed at base to claw; wings ca. 2.6 cm, wider in upper part, claw ca. 1/2 as long as limb, auricle short, linear, incurved, ca. 1 mm; keel ca. 2.4 cm, claw slightly shorter than limb, auricle short, tooth­like. Ovary densely fulvous villous outside, glabrous inside. Legume unknown.

● Hillsides. Xizang (Zanda).

Caragana aliensis seems to be related to C. aegacanthoides, but whether the former species should be recognized or not requires further study. This treatment is based on the protologue; we have not seen the type specimen (at NWBI).