边塞黄耆 bian sai huang qi

Astragalus ellipsoideus Ledebour var. abbreviatus Lede­bour.

Plants 5-15 cm tall, acaulescent, densely matlike caespi­tose. Leaves 5-10 cm; stipules 6-8 mm, high adnate to peti­ole, densely white hairy; petiole 2.5-5 cm, slender, densely appressed white hairy; leaflets in (5-)7-11(-14) pairs, 5-10 × 1.5-4 mm, both surfaces silvery hairy with dense appressed hairs. Racemes spherical to shortly ellipsoid, 3-4 cm, densely many flowered; peduncle 6-15 cm, stout, densely covered with medifixed, appressed, white hairs; bracts 4-5 mm, white or white and black hairy. Calyx at anthesis tubular, ca. 10 mm, later on inflated ovoid and 13-15 mm, rather densely covered with spreading white hairs, at teeth with black hairs mixed in; teeth 2.5-3 mm. Petals yellow; standard narrowly obovate, 18-22 × 5-6 mm, apex emarginate; wings 17-20 mm; keel 16-19 mm. Legumes 9-10 mm, 3-4 mm high, shortly acuminate, 2-locular; valves densely covered with short spreading hairs.

Gansu, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (Siberia)].