滇西木蓝 dian xi mu lan

Indigofera polyphylla Candolle; I. virgata Roxburgh.

Shrubs, 5-20 cm tall. Stems striate, with dense spreading brown 2-branched trichomes with very unequally long arms. Stipules linear, 7-10 mm, abaxially with spreading white or brown trichomes. Leaves 4-10 cm, 13-39-foliolate; petiole absent; rachis with dense spreading brown trichomes; stipels minute or absent; petiolules ca. 1 mm; leaflet blades elliptic to oblong, 7-15 × 4-6 mm, abaxially with dense subbasifixed tri­chomes, adaxially with slender white appressed medifixed tri­chomes, secondary veins not visible, base cuneate to rounded, apex obtuse to rounded and mucronate. Racemes 5-15 cm; pe­duncle and rachis with dense spreading long white trichomes; peduncle 4-7 mm; bracts linear to narrowly triangular, 8-10 mm, abaxially with long spreading white trichomes. Pedicel ca. 3 mm, with long spreading trichomes. Calyx ca. 3 mm, outside with long spreading white trichomes; tube ca. 2 mm; teeth triangular, ca. 1 mm. Corolla pink; standard elliptic to oblong, 8-10 × ca. 4.5 mm, outside with dense spreading brown or white long trichomes, apex mucronate; wings oblong, 8-9 mm, glabrous, margin ciliate; keel 8-9 mm, outside apically with spreading white trichomes, margin ciliate, apex acute. Sta­mens 7.5-9 mm; anthers hairy at base. Ovary with dense ap­pressed white trichomes. Legume linear, cylindric, deflexed to spreading, 3-4 cm × 3-4 mm, with white appressed 2-branched trichomes; endocarp not blotched. Seeds 6-10 per legume, dark brown, cubic, 1.5-2 × 1.5-2 mm. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Aug.

Valley slopes; 1800-2500 m. W Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indone­sia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].