猫头刺组 mao tou ci zu

Shrublets, strongly branched, non-glandular, with appressed silky trichomes often forming pulvinate tufts. Stipules adnate to petiole, connate. Leaves appearing paripinnate by apical leaflet reduced to a spine; petioles and rachis hardened after falling of leaf­lets and becoming slender spines. Racemes axillary, few flowered; peduncle short. Calyx inflating in fruit, not ruptured by legume. Legume ± ovoid, thickly leathery, ± 2-locular.

One species: China, Mongolia, Russia.

Lower Taxon

• Oxytropis aciphylla Ledebour