棉果组 mian guo zu

Lithoon Nevski, Trudy Bot. Inst. Akad. Nauk S.S.S.R., Ser. 1, Fl. Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 4: 255. 1937.

Plants perennial, herbaceous, with long, hollow, stout stems; hairs basifixed, white or yellowish. Stipules green, free from peti­ole, connate behind stem. Flowers large, in sessile, few-flowered racemes. Calyx tubular to slightly ventricose. Petals glabrous, yel­low, second pair of filaments at base of free part spreading ciliate. Legumes sessile, ovoid-globose, 2-locular; walls very thick, hard leathery, consisting of 2 different layers of parenchyma and a very thin inner fiber-layer, with a narrow hollow, few seeded.

One species: Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia (Iran).