蓝花棘豆 lan hua ji dou

Astragalus caeruleus Pallas, Reise Russ. Reich. 3: 293. 1776; A. baicalensis Pallas; Oxytropis baicalensis (Pallas) Pal­las ex Besser; O. caerulea f. albiflora (H. C. Fu) X. Y. Zhu & H. Ohashi; O. caerulea subsp. subfalcata (Hance) S. H. Cheng ex H. C. Fu; O. chinensis Bunge; O. curviflora Turczaninow ex Besser; O. mandshurica Bunge; O. mandshurica f. albiflora H. C. Fu; O. subfalcata Hance; O. subfalcata var. albiflora C. W. Chang.

Herbs, to 30 cm tall or more, acaulescent, from a multi­headed caudex, clothed with marcescent leaf bases and stipules. Stipules narrowly triangular, ca. 4 × 3 mm, membranous, with long stout trichomes, basally connate. Leaves 10-20 cm, 15-41-foliolate; leaflet blades ovate to lanceolate-elliptic, 6-19 × 1.5-8 mm, persistent, subglabrous. Racemes lax, 10-20-flow­ered, elongating 10-20 cm in fruit; peduncle 10-22 cm, much longer than leaves; bracts triangular, 3-5 × ca. 2 mm, pubes­cent. Calyx campanulate, 3-5 × 1-1.5 mm, with whitish and blackish trichomes; lobes subulate, 2-2.5 × 0.5-1 mm, shorter than to equaling tube. Corolla purple, violet, blue, red, or white; standard (0.8-)0.9-1.3 cm, lamina orbicular, apex rounded; wings (0.7-)0.9-1.1 cm, lamina obliquely oblanceolate, apex obtuse; keel 7-9 mm, beak 2-3 mm. Legume subsessile; body ovoid to lanceolate-ovoid, 10-16 × 4-5 mm, inflated, leathery, with whitish and blackish trichomes. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Aug-Sep. 2n = 16.

Rocky areas, hillsides, forests, meadows, roadsides, prairies; 1000-3000 m. Gansu, Hebei, Nei Mongol, Shanxi [Mongolia, Russia].