灰叶黄耆 hui ye huang qi

Astragalus biondianus Ulbrich; A. ulachanensis Franchet.

Plants 30-40 cm tall; hairs medifixed, appressed, in vege­tative parts only white. Stems several, ascending or erect, 15-25 cm, sparsely to densely covered with hairs 0.2-0.3 mm. Leaves 3-5 cm, subsessile; stipules 1-2 mm, lower ones shortly vagi­nate-connate, upper ones only semiamplexicaul, all sparsely hairy; rachis densely hairy like stem; leaflets in 6-11 pairs, nar­rowly elliptic, 2-7(-10) × 1-2.5(-4) mm, abaxially sparsely to rather densely and adaxially sparsely to loosely covered with appressed hairs 0.4-0.5 mm, or adaxially glabrous, apex obtuse to rounded or slightly emarginate. Racemes loosely 10-22-flowered; peduncle 4-6 cm, erect, loosely white hairy; bracts 0.6-1 mm, mostly white hairy. Calyx 4-5 mm, rather densely covered with appressed white hairs 0.2-0.4 mm and with mostly distinctly shorter black hairs; teeth 0.1-0.8 mm. Petals white or pale blue; standard rhombic-elliptic to elliptic, 10-15 × 4.5-6 mm, apex emarginate; wings 10-14 mm, limbs obliquely incised; keel 8-11 mm. Legumes (unripe) with a stipe 3-5 mm, 12-15 mm, 2-2.5 mm high and wide, with a short beak, loosely to densely covered with very short, appressed, white or black or black and white hairs (in one plant).

● Semideserts, steppes; 1000-1500 m. Hebei, Nei Mongol, Ning­xia, Shaanxi, Shanxi.