Description from
Flora of China
Robinia caragana Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 722. 1753; Caragana fruticosa (Pallas) Besser var. multiflora H. Xie & Y. T. Zhao; C. sibirica Medikus.
Trees or large shrubs, 2-6 m tall. Branches dark gray; branchlets green to yellowish brown. Stipules spinelike, 5-10 mm. Leaves pinnate, 8-16-foliolate; petiole and rachis 3-7 cm, caducous; leaflet blades oblong-obovate to elliptic, 1-2(-2.5) × 0.5-1(-1.3) cm, pubescent when young or only abaxially pubescent, base mostly rounded or rounded-cuneate, apex obtuse. Flowers solitary or to 5 in a fascicle. Pedicel 2-5 cm, articulate apically. Calyx tube often broadly campanulate, 6-8 mm. Corolla yellow, 1.6-2 cm; standard rhombic to broadly ovate, apex rounded-obtuse; wings with claw ca. 3/4 as long as limb, auricle spurlike and no longer than 1/3 length of claw; keel with claw slightly shorter than limb, auricle obtuse to deltoid. Ovary glabrous or appressed pubescent. Legume 3.5-6 cm, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Aug-Sep. 2n = 16.
Caragana sibirica as a pre-Linnaean name was used by Royen (Fl. Leyd. Prodr. 537. 1740) and considered by Linnaeus (loc. cit.) to be a synonym of Robinia caragana. Although Fabricius used the name C. sibirica (Enum., ed. 2, 421. 1763), which would appear to have priority over C. arborescens, only generic names are validly published there, and so the first valid publication of C. sibirica as a binomial was in the later publication by Medikus (Vorles. Churpfälz. Phys.-Öcon. Ges. 2: 365. 1787).
Forest margins, woodlands; 1000-1900 m. Heilongjiang, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (Siberia)].
