刺序木蓝 ci xu mu lan

Indigofera bungeana Walpers var. nana L. C. Wang & X. G. Sun; I. bungeana f. spinescens Kobuski.

Shrubs, 0.6-1.5 m tall, many branched. Stems brown, terete; young branches yellowish green, glabrous. Stipules ca. 1 mm. Leaves 1-2 cm, (5 or)7- or 9-foliolate; petiole and rachis adaxially grooved, with appressed white medifixed trichomes; petiole 4-5 mm; stipels not visible; petiolules ca. 0.5 mm, hairy; leaflet blades opposite, obovate, obovate-oblong, oblong, or elliptic, 3-8 × 2-4 mm, abaxially pale and with appressed medifixed trichomes, adaxially green and glabrous or glabres­cent, midvein adaxially impressed, secondary veins not visible, base broadly cuneate to rounded, apex obtuse to rounded and mucronate. Racemes 2-5 cm, many flowered, spinescent; pe­duncle ca. 5 mm; bracts linear, ca. 1.5 mm, caducous. Pedicel ca. 1 mm, hairy, deflexed in fruit. Calyx ca. 2.5 mm, with ap­pressed medifixed trichomes; tube ca. 1 mm; teeth linear, ca. 1.5 mm. Corolla purplish red; standard obovate, 4.5-5.5 mm, outside hairy, apex rounded; wings auriculate near base, margin ciliate; keel slightly shorter than wings, outside apically hairy. Stamens 3-4 mm; anthers globose, glabrous. Ovary linear, white hairy. Legume cylindric, straight, 2-3 cm, hairy; endocarp red blotched. Seeds 6 or 7 per legume, reddish brown, oblong to cubic, 2-3 × ca. 2 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

● Dry slopes, sunny rocks, riverbanks; 100-2700 m. Chongqing, S Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, E Xizang, Yunnan.