蛇荚黄耆 she jia huang qi

Astragalus aitchisonii Baker; A. paulsenii Freyn; Ophio­carpus aitchisonii (Baker) Podlech.

Plants branched at base, with white hairs 0.2-0.5 mm, in inflorescence also with black hairs, rarely glabrous. Stems 3-25 cm, prostrate to ascending, rather densely appressed to spreading hairy. Leaves 1.5-4.5 cm; stipules 0.75-2 mm, cili­ate; petiole 0.4-1.5 cm, like rachis hairy; leaflets in 4-8 pairs, narrowly obovate to obovate, 3-7 × 1.5-3 mm, sometimes folded, both surfaces rather densely covered with subappressed hairs, apex rounded to retuse. Racemes sessile or with a pedun­cle up to 0.5 cm, loosely 1-5-flowered; bracts membranous, ca. 0.5 mm. Pedicels absent or up to 0.3 mm. Calyx 2.5-3.5 mm, rather densely subappressed white hairy, more rarely also black hairy; teeth 1-1.5 mm. Petals creamy or pink to bluish suffused, keel with violet tip; standard ovate to rhombic-ovate, 6-7 × 2.5-3 mm, apex incised; wings ca. 5 mm; keel ca. 5 mm. Leg­umes sessile, narrowly linear, flexuous or strongly to circular curved, terete, 3-5 cm, 1.5-2 mm thick, slightly constricted be­tween seeds, with a hooked beak up to 3 mm, 1-locular; valves densely covered with very short appressed hairs or rarely gla­brous. Seeds oblong.

On dry sandy to loamy soil; below 100-3600 m. Xizang [Af­ghanistan, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan; SW Asia (Iran, Iraq)].