春花胡枝子 chun hua hu zhi zi

Lespedeza metcalfii Ricker.

Shrubs, erect, much branched, puberulent or tomentose. Leaves 3-foliolate; petiole 7-10 mm, yellow or white pubes­cent; leaflets narrowly obovate or ovate-elliptic, terminal one 3-5.5 × ca. 2 cm, abaxially villous or sericeous, adaxially pilose, base rounded, apex rounded or emarginate, mucronate. Racemes axillary, 4-5 cm, longer than leaves, densely shortly spreading tomentose. Pedicel 1-5 mm, densely hairy. Calyx 5-9 mm, 5-lobed; lobes linear-lanceolate. Corolla purplish red, ca. 1 cm; standard obovate, base shortly clawed, apex emarginate; wings oblong, slightly shorter than standard and keel, auricu­late, clawed; keel obliquely obovate, subequal to standard, clawed. Ovary densely hairy. Legume oblong-elliptic, ca. 8 mm, densely hairy, both ends acute, apex long rostrate. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Jul.

● Coniferous forests, mountain slopes, roadsides; ca. 800 m. An­hui, Fujian, ?Zhejiang.