西南木蓝 xi nan mu lan

Indigofera mairei var. intermedia Pampanini; I. monbeigii Craib.

Shrubs, 1-2(-3) m tall. Stems chestnut-brown, terete or angular, with yellowish round lenticels; young branches with appressed white or brown medifixed symmetrically 2-branched trichomes, glabrescent. Stipules subulate, 3-5(-6) mm. Leaves 2.5-10 cm, 5-13(-17)-foliolate; petiole and rachis with ap­pressed brown mixed white medifixed trichomes; petiole 0.7-1.5(-2) cm; rachis adaxially grooved; stipels subulate, 0.5-1 mm; petiolules 1-2 mm; leaflet blades opposite, elliptic to ellip­tic-oblong, (0.5-)1-3(-3.5) × (0.3-)0.6-1.8(-2) cm, papery, both surfaces with lightly appressed white medifixed trichomes, midvein adaxially obviously depressed, secondary veins not visible, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, apex obtuse to emar­ginate and mucronate. Racemes 2-6(-8) cm; peduncle and ra­chis with appressed white and brown medifixed trichomes; pe­duncle 1-10 mm; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 2-3 mm, persis­tent or caducous, hairy. Pedicel 1-2 mm, hairy, deflexed in fruit. Calyx 2.5-3 mm; teeth shorter than to as long as tube. Corolla pinkish purple; standard elliptic, 7-9(-10) × 5-6 mm, sessile, outside with appressed white medifixed trichomes; wings 7-9(-10) mm, margin ciliate; keel 7-9(-10) mm, outside hairy, spur minute. Stamens 6-8 mm; anthers ovoid, base with a few trichomes. Ovary hairy on sutures and at apex, with 6-8 ovules. Legume brown, cylindric, 2-3.5 cm, glabrescent; endocarp blotched. Seeds 6 or 7 per legume, cubic. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

● Slopes in scrub or thickets; 2100-2700 m. S Gansu, Guizhou, N and W Sichuan, SE Xizang, N Yunnan.