白毛锦鸡儿 bai mao jin ji er

Caragana opulens Komarov var. licentiana (Handel-Maz­zetti) Yakovlev.

Shrubs to 60 cm tall. Bark greenish brown to reddish brown. Leaves digitate, 4-foliolate; petiole 2-3 mm, persistent; leaflet blades obovate to oblanceolate, 5-12 × 2-4 mm, both surfaces densely pubescent, apex rounded and sometimes emar­ginate. Flowers solitary or 2 in a fascicle. Pedicel 0.6-2 cm, articulate apically. Calyx tube tubular, 7-10 mm. Corolla yel­low but standard with orange spots at middle, 2-2.2 cm; stan­dard broadly obovate to suborbicular, apex emarginate; wings with claw ± as long as limb, auricle dentiform and ca. 2 mm; keel with claw longer than limb, auricle dentiform. Ovary densely pubescent. Legume cylindric, 2.5-3.5 cm, pubescent. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 32*.

● Dry slopes; 1500-2400 m. Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai.

Yakovlev (Rast. Tsentral. Azii 8a: 38. 1988) considers this taxon to be a variety of Caragana opulens, although this is not supported by chromosome data. However, between the two taxa there seem to exist hybrids with which it is difficult to deal. At least one variety could be separated whose leaflets are oblanceolate to obcuneate, with apex acute to obtuse. It is often wrongly identified as C. kansuensis in major herbaria of China (see also note under C. kansuensis, p. 542).