毛刺锦鸡儿 mao ci jin ji er

Caragana tragacanthoides (Pallas) Poiret var. tibetica Maximowicz ex C. K. Schneider, Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. 2: 100. 1907; C. ordosica Y. Z. Zhao, Zong Y. Zhu & L. Q. Zhao.

Shrubs to 30 cm tall, cushion-shaped. Old branches grayish yellow to grayish brown; current-year branchlets bright grayish brown, densely pubescent. Leaves pinnate, 6- or 8-foliolate; petiole and rachis 2-3.5 cm, persistent, densely pubes­cent when young; leaflet blades linear, 8-12 × 0.5-1.5 mm, densely villous, apex acute. Flowers solitary, subsessile. Calyx tube tubular, 0.8-1.5 cm. Corolla yellow, 2.2-2.5 cm; standard obovate, claw ca. 1/2 as long as limb, apex slightly emarginate; wings with claw as long as or slightly longer than limb; keel with claw slightly longer than limb, auricle dentiform. Ovary densely pubescent. Legume ellipsoid, 7-8 mm, outside pubes­cent, inside tomentose. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 16.

Dry slopes, sandy areas; 1400-3500 m. Gansu, W Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, N Shaanxi, W Sichuan, Xizang [Mongolia].

Y. Z. Zhao et al. (Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 25: 385. 2005) believed that Caragana ordosica differs from this taxon by having leaflet blades involute, thus tubular in cross section, and auricle of corolla wings obtuse. However, from the general morphology, we believe it is conspe­cific with C. tibetica.