黄雀儿 huang que er

Crotalaria cytisoides Roxburgh ex Candolle; C. szemao­ensis Gagnepain; Priotropis cytisoides (Roxburgh ex Candolle) Wight & Arnott.

Shrubs, 50-100 cm tall. Stems and branches terete, appressed brownish pubescent when young, glabrescent. Stip­ule subulate, often caducous. Leaves 3-foliolate; petiole 2-4 cm; petiolules less than 1 mm; leaflet blades elliptic to oblong, 5-7 × 1.5-5 cm, with terminal one longer than lateral ones, thin, abaxially slightly appressed pubescent, adaxially glabrous, base tapered, apex acuminate and mucronate. Racemes terminal or leaf-opposed, 10-30-flowered; bracts linear, 2-4 mm. Pedi­cel 6-8 mm; bracteoles 2, basal to calyx tube and at middle or apical part of pedicel, lanceolate-triangular. Calyx subcampan­ulate, 5-7 mm, pubescent, 5-lobed; lobes lanceolate, ± as long as calyx tube, apex acuminate. Corolla yellow, turning red when old, exserted from calyx; standard oblong, 7-10 mm; wings obovate-oblong, broader at base; keel strongly rounded around middle through almost 90°, beak not twisted. Legume ellipsoid, ca. 3 cm, compressed, with trichomes when young, glabrescent when mature; stipe 4-5 mm. Seeds 4-8, smooth. Fl. and fr. Apr-Dec.

Trailsides on mountain slopes; 800-1500 m. Xizang, Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, N India, N Myanmar, Nepal, N Thailand].

Crotalaria psoraleoides belongs to the same section as C. bracte­ata and C. uncinella but has been placed by some authors in the genus Priotropis on the basis of its compressed legumes. Such legumes are found in other, unrelated species of Crotalaria and do not justify the recognition of a distinct genus.