甘肃锦鸡儿 gan su jin ji er

Shrubs to 60 cm tall. Branches grayish brown. Leaves digitate, 4-foliolate; petiole 4-10 mm and persistent on long branchlets, 2-4 mm and caducous on short branchlets; leaflet blades linear-oblanceolate, 5-12 × 1-2 mm, both surfaces gla­brous or pilose, apex acute. Flowers solitary. Pedicel 5-12 mm, articulate apically. Calyx tube tubular, 6-9 mm, base gibbous. Corolla yellow but standard with straw-colored spots at middle, 2-2.5 cm; standard ovate to broadly ovate, 2-2.5 cm, claw ca. 1/3 as long as limb, apex emarginate; wings ± as long as stan­dard, claw ± as long as limb, auricle ca. 2 mm; keel ± as long as wings, with a longer claw and short auricle. Ovary glabrous. Legume cylindric, 2-3.5 cm, glabrous, apex acute. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Aug.

● Loess hills, hillsides; 900-1900 m. E Gansu, Ningxia.

Y. Z. Zhao (Acta Sci. Nat. Univ. Intramongol. 22: 97-100. 1991) considered that collections attributed to this species from Nei Mongol, N Shaanxi, and N Shanxi in FRPS (42(1): 57. 1993) are actually repre­sentatives of Caragana opulens, with leaflet blade narrower and acute at apex. However, they seem more related to C. licentiana in their leaflets pubescent and abaxially tinged reddish when dried.