Description from
Flora of China
Lespedeza dielsiana Schindler; L. floribunda var. alopecuroides Franchet; L. stottsae L. H. Bailey.
Subshrubs, small, 30-60(-100) cm tall. Branchlets grayish white tomentose. Leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets obovate, broadly obovate, or oblong, terminal one 1-1.5 × 0.6-0.9 cm, abaxially densely white adpressed pubescent, adaxially sparsely adpressed hairy, base cuneate, apex emarginate, obtuse-rounded, or subtruncate, mucronate. Racemes axillary; peduncle slender, distinctly overtopping leaves. Flowers numerous. Calyx 4-5 mm, 5-lobed; lobes lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, upper 2 lobes connate at lower part, free above. Corolla purple, purplish red, or bluish purple; standard elliptic, ca. 8 mm, base clawed, apex rounded; wings slightly short; keel longer than standard, apex obtuse. Legume broadly ovoid, ca. 7 mm, overtopping persistent calyx, densely pubescent, reticulate veined. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.
Following Li and Chen (FRPS 41: 148. 1995), one of us (Huang) retains Lespedeza stottsae (Gentes Herb. 1: 32. 1920), described from Jigong Shan, Henan, and L. dielsiana (Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 10: 404. 1912), described from Sichuan, here in synonymy due to the lack of authentic specimens. Two of us (Ohashi and Nemoto) agree that these entities are conspecific with L. floribunda.
Rocky mountain slopes; below 1300 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, SW Liaoning, ?Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, ?Zhejiang [India, Pakistan; naturalized in Japan].
