笔直黄耆 bi zhi huang qi

Astragalus strictus Credit: Harvard University Herbaria

Astragalus ladakensis Balakrishnan.

Plants 8-30 cm tall, appressed hairy. Stems sparsely to loosely covered with white and a few or sometimes also more black hairs 0.3-0.6 mm. Leaves 4-7 cm; stipules 3.5-6.5 mm, at least lower ones ± distinctly and sometimes high connate be­hind stem, loosely to rather densely covered with mostly white hairs up to 1 mm; petiole 1-2 cm, with rachis hairy like stem; leaflets in 8-12 pairs, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, (3-)4-10 × 1-4.5 mm, abaxially somewhat densely hairy, adaxially sparsely to loosely hairy, apex narrowly rounded to slightly emarginate. Racemes ovoid, densely up to 20-flowered; peduncle 5-8 cm, sparsely to loosely hairy like stem; bracts 2-3 mm, white and black hairy. Calyx 3.5-4 mm, rather densely covered with ap­pressed white hairs up to 1 mm and with mostly shorter black hairs, sometimes with predominantly black hairs; teeth 1-2 mm. Petals pale pinkish to purple; standard elliptic, 7-9 × 4-5.5(-6) mm; wings 6-8 mm; keel 5.5-7 mm. Legumes with a stipe ca. 2 mm, 6-8 mm, ca. 3 mm high and ca. 2 mm wide, with a beak 0.5-1 mm, 1-locular; valves loosely covered with subappressed white and black hairs 0.3-0.7 mm.

Alpine steppic grasslands, stony slopes; 3000-5600 m. Qinghai, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Nepal].