Trifolium dauricum Laxmann, Novi Comment. Acad. Sci. Imp. Petrop. 15: 560. 1771; Hedysarum trichocarpum Stephan ex Willdenow; Lespedeza davurica subsp. huangheensis C. J. Chen; L. davurica var. sessilis V. N. Vassiljev; L. davurica var. shimadae (Masamune) Masamune & Hosokawa; L. fauriei H. Léveillé; L. feddeana Schindler; L. medicaginoides Bunge; L. shimadae Masamune; L. trichocarpa (Stephan ex Willdenow) Persoon.

Subshrubs or perennial herbs, 30-100 cm tall. Stems often ascending, simple or branched at base. Branchlets pubescent. Leaves 3-foliolate; petiole 1-2 cm; leaflets oblong or narrowly oblong, terminal one 0.8-3 × 0.4-1.6 cm, abaxially adpressed or erect pubescent, adaxially sparsely pubescent or glabrous, base rounded, apex rounded or emarginate, mucronate. Ra­cemes axillary, shorter than or ca. as long as leaves; peduncle densely pubescent. Calyx 3-6 mm, 5-parted; lobes lanceolate. Corolla white or yellowish white; standard oblong, ca. 1 cm, mixed with purple at middle, base clawed; wings oblong, short; keel longer than wings. Cleistogamous flowers clustered in leaf axils, fruit-bearing. Legume obovoid or narrowly obovoid, 3-4 × 2-3 mm, lenticular, pubescent, apex rostrate, enclosed in per­sistent calyx.

This is a good plant for livestock forage and is used as green manure.

Dry mountain slopes, grasslands, roadsides, sandy soils. Anhui, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, ?Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Korea, Mongolia, Russia].