筒果木蓝 tong guo mu lan

Indigofera heterantha Wallich ex Brandis var. longipedi­cellata Thothathri.

Shrubs, erect or ascending, 80-100 cm tall. Stems striate, with sparse spreading 2-branched trichomes with unequally long arms. Stipules triangular, 2-4 mm, persistent, with appressed brownish 2-branched trichomes. Leaves 4-6 cm, 11-15-folio­late; petiole and rachis adaxially grooved, with brownish 2-branched trichomes; petiole 5-10 mm; stipels ca. 1 mm; petio­lules ca. 1 mm; leaflet blades opposite, elliptic to oblong, 7-15 × 3-5 mm, abaxially with medifixed trichomes, adaxially with appressed white unequally 2-branched trichomes, base cuneate, apex obtuse to rounded and mucronate. Racemes 5-9 cm; pe­duncle and rachis with spreading brownish 2-branched tri­chomes; peduncle ca. 1.5 cm; bracts narrowly triangular, 1.5-2 mm, caducous. Pedicel 4-6 mm but to 1 cm in fruit, with spreading brownish 2-branched trichomes. Calyx outside with appressed brownish 2-branched trichomes; tube ca. 1.8 mm; teeth triangular, 0.5-0.8 mm. Corolla pink; standard obovate, 7-9 × 4-6 mm, outside with appressed 2-branched trichomes, apex mucronate; wings 6.5-8 × 2-3.5 mm, glabrous; keel as long as standard, spur ca. 1 mm. Stamens 7-8 mm; anthers ovoid. Ovary glabrous, with 8-10 ovules. Legume cylindric, 4-5 cm × 3-4 mm, glabrous. Seeds 8-10 per legume. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Sep.

Forest margins, grasslands on slopes; 2200-2400 m. S Xizang [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal].