砂生槐 sha sheng huai

Caragana moorcroftiana Bentham in Royle, Ill. Bot. Himal. Mts. 198. 1835.

Shrubs, ca. 1 m high, densely branched. Branchlets densely hairy. Leaves 4-6 cm; stipules subulate, 4-7 mm, spinescent, persistent; leaflets 11-15, obovate, ca. 10 × 6 mm, hairy on both surfaces, base cuneate or rounded, apex obtuse or retuse, usually mucronate. Racemes terminal at branchlets, 3-5 cm. Flowers large. Calyx blue, shortly campanulate; teeth 5, ca. 7 × 3-5 mm, glabrous. Corolla blue-purple; standard ovate-ob­long, ca. 9 × 5 mm, reflexed, apex retuse, narrowing to a claw, claw equal to blade; wings obovate-elliptic, ca. 16 mm, 1-auric­ulate at base, claw ca. 6 mm; keel ovate-falcate, auriculate on one side, claw slender, ca. 18 mm. Stamens 10, unequal, slightly fused at base. Ovary shorter than stamens, yellow-brown hairy; ovules many. Legumes not obviously moniliform, slightly compressed, ca. 6 × 0.7 cm, 2-valvate along sutures. Seeds 1-4(or 5), light yellow, ellipsoidal, ca. 4.5 mm. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Oct.

Valley forests; 3000-4500 m. Xizang [Bhutan, India, Myanmar].