兴安胡枝子 xing an hu zhi zi

Trifolium dauricum Laxmann, Novi Comment. Acad. Sci. Imp. Petrop. 15: 560. 1771; Hedysarum trichocarpum Stephan ex Willdenow; Lespedeza davurica subsp. huangheensis C. J. Chen; L. davurica var. sessilis V. N. Vassiljev; L. davurica var. shimadae (Masamune) Masamune & Hosokawa; L. fauriei H. Léveillé; L. feddeana Schindler; L. medicaginoides Bunge; L. shimadae Masamune; L. trichocarpa (Stephan ex Willdenow) Persoon.

Subshrubs or perennial herbs, 30-100 cm tall. Stems often ascending, simple or branched at base. Branchlets pubescent. Leaves 3-foliolate; petiole 1-2 cm; leaflets oblong or narrowly oblong, terminal one 0.8-3 × 0.4-1.6 cm, abaxially adpressed or erect pubescent, adaxially sparsely pubescent or glabrous, base rounded, apex rounded or emarginate, mucronate. Ra­cemes axillary, shorter than or ca. as long as leaves; peduncle densely pubescent. Calyx 3-6 mm, 5-parted; lobes lanceolate. Corolla white or yellowish white; standard oblong, ca. 1 cm, mixed with purple at middle, base clawed; wings oblong, short; keel longer than wings. Cleistogamous flowers clustered in leaf axils, fruit-bearing. Legume obovoid or narrowly obovoid, 3-4 × 2-3 mm, lenticular, pubescent, apex rostrate, enclosed in per­sistent calyx.

Dry mountain slopes, grasslands, roadsides, sandy soils. Anhui, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, ?Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Korea, Mongolia, Russia].

This is a good plant for livestock forage and is used as green manure.