蓝花黄耆 lan hua huang qi

Astragalus caeruleus H. T. Tsai & T. T. Yu (1940), not Pal­las (1776).

Plants 20-25 cm tall. Stems several, up to 20 cm, as­cending, sparsely to loosely covered with appressed to as­cending white and blackish hairs 0.1-0.3 mm, partly subgla­brous. Leaves 3-6 cm; stipules ca. 3 mm; petiole 0.5-2 cm, with rachis hairy like stem; leaflets in 4-7 pairs, ovate to ellip­tic, 5-10 × 2.5-5 mm, abaxially loosely covered with appressed hairs 0.3-0.5 mm, adaxially glabrous, apex obtuse. Racemes short, rather loosely 4-9-flowered; peduncle 4-9 cm, very sparsely to loosely white and toward raceme increasingly black hairy; bracts narrowly triangular, 2-3 mm, subglabrous. Calyx 3-4 mm, densely covered with appressed black hairs; teeth 1-1.5 mm. Petals blue, but yellowish with violet-tipped keel when dry; standard widely obovate, 8-13 × ca. 5 mm, without distinct claw; wings 7-12 mm; keel 5.5-9 mm. Legumes (unripe) with a stipe ca. 2 mm, ellipsoid, 5-6 mm, ca. 4 mm high, 1-locular; valves densely covered with short subappressed black hairs.

● Alpine meadows. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan.

Astragalus caeruleopetalinus var. glabricarpus Y. C. Ho (loc. cit.) differs mainly by its glabrous legumes.