阿尔泰黄耆 a er tai huang qi

Astragalus altaicus Bunge (1868), not Pallas (1800).

Plants 15-35 cm tall, acaulescent, sparsely hairy to sub­glabrous. Leaves 11-25 cm; stipules 10-15 mm, ciliate, adnate to petiole for 4-5 mm; petiole 3-5 cm, like rachis glabrous or more rarely sparsely to loosely covered with long hairs; leaflets in 9-14 pairs, remote, ovate to obovate, 8-15 × 6-11 mm, mostly glabrous or ciliate, apex rounded to slightly retuse. Ra­cemes 6-8 cm, loosely 6-15-flowered; peduncle 4-8 cm, gla­brous or sparsely hairy; bracts 6-11 mm, ciliate. Calyx 12-15 mm, glabrous, rarely sparsely to rather densely covered all over with spreading hairs 1.5-3 mm; teeth 3-4 mm. Petals yellow; standard obovate, 23-25 × 9-10 mm; wings 17-19 mm; keel 16-19 mm. Legumes with a stipe 4-5 mm, 17-28 mm, 9-10 mm high and 10-12 mm wide, with a beak 1-2 mm, 2-locular; valves glabrous.

Sand, steppic meadows, Pinus forests. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (Siberia)].