Description from
Flora of China
Robinia sinica Buc’hoz, Pl. Nouv. Decouv. 24. 1784; Caragana chamlagu Lamarck; C. longiunguiculata C. W. Chang; C. rosea Turczaninow ex Maximowicz var. longiunguiculata (C. W. Chang) Y. X. Liou.
Shrubs to 2 m tall. Bark dark brown. Current-year branchlets glabrous. Leaves pinnate or sometimes digitate, 4-foliolate; petiole and rachis 0.7-1.5(-2.5) cm, caducous or persistent; leaflet blades obovate to oblong-obovate, 1-3.5 × 0.5-1.5 cm, apical pairs often largest, apex rounded and mucronate. Flowers solitary. Pedicel ca. 1 cm, articulate at middle. Calyx tube campanulate, 1.2-1.4 cm. Corolla yellow, 2.8-3 cm; standard narrowly obovate, claw short; wings basally auriculate, claw nearly as long as limb; keel broadly blunt. Ovary glabrous. Legume cylindric, 3-3.5 cm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul. 2n = 16, 24.
Mountain hills; below 400-1800 m. Anhui, Fujian, S Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Korea; cultivated and naturalized in Japan].
