Description from
Flora of China
Caragana microphylla f. cinerea Komarov; C. microphylla f. daurica Komarov; C. microphylla f. pallasiana Komarov; C. microphylla f. viridis Komarov.
Shrubs to 2(-3) m tall. Branches dark gray to dark green; branchlets glabrous or tomentose. Stipules spinelike, 1.5-5 mm, usually obliquely erect. Leaves pinnate, 10-20-foliolate; petiole and rachis caducous; leaflet blades obovate to obovate-oblong, 3-10 × 2-8 mm, glabrous, pubescent, or tomentose, apex obtuse to truncate. Flowers solitary. Pedicel ca. 1 cm, articulate near middle. Calyx tube tubular-campanulate, 0.9-1.2 cm, glabrous or tomentose. Corolla yellow, ca. 2.5 cm; standard broadly ovate, claw short, apex minutely emarginate; wings with claw ca. 1/2 as long as limb, auricle short and dentiform; keel with a claw as long as limb, auricle inconspicuous. Ovary often glabrous. Legume cylindric, 4-5 cm × 4-5 mm. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 16.
Caragana microphylla is a polymorphic species and in some cases with transitional forms. Hybrids between this species and C. korshinskii may occur where these species are sympatric.
This species is planted for dune stabilization and for soil and water conservation.
Consolidated and semiconsolidated sand dunes, rocky mountain slopes; 1000-2000 m. Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol [Mongolia, Russia (Siberia)].