刺齿木蓝 ci chi mu lan

Indigofera gracillima H. T. Tsai & T. T. Yu.

Subshrubs, 10-30 cm tall. Stems spreading, many branched, base woody. Young branches, yellowish brown, slen­der, with sparse appressed white medifixed symmetrically 2-branched trichomes, glabrescent. Stipules linear, 1.5-3 mm. Leaves 0.6-1.5(-2) cm, (5 or)7- or 9-foliolate; petiole and ra­chis with sparse appressed medifixed trichomes; petiole 0.2-5(-6) mm; stipels ca. 0.5 mm; petiolules ca. 1 mm; leaflet blades opposite, oblong to oblanceolate, 3.5-6 × 1.5-2.5 mm, papery, abaxially pale green and with sparse appressed medi­fixed trichomes, adaxially green and glabrous, midvein adax­ially impressed, secondary veins not visible, base rounded, cu­neate, or broadly cuneate, apex obtuse-rounded and mucronate. Racemes 2-5 cm, many flowered; peduncle 0.9-1.5 cm, sparsely hairy; rachis scattered with reddish pearl bodies; bracts linear, 1-1.5 mm, caducous, abaxially with appressed medi­fixed trichomes. Pedicel 0.5-1 mm, hairy, deflexed in fruit. Calyx 2-3 mm, outside with sparse appressed medifixed tri­chomes; tube 0.5-1 mm; teeth linear-lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm. Corolla red; standard broadly elliptic, 5-7 × ca. 4 mm, outside hairy; wings 5-7 × ca. 2 mm; keel 5-6.5 mm, spur ca. 0.5 mm. Stamens 4-5 mm; anthers globose, base hairy. Ovary hairy, with 7 or 8 ovules. Legume linear, cylindric, 1.5-2 cm, glabrous or with sparse appressed medifixed trichomes; endocarp purple blotched. Seeds 6 or 7 per legume. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.

● Grassy slopes, Pinus forests; 2300-2600 m. Yunnan.