Astragalus glaber (Candolle) Lamarck (1811), not Can­dolle (1802), nor Michaux (1803); Oxytropis diffusa Ledebour; O. drakeana Franchet; O. glabra var. drakeana (Franchet) C. W. Chang; O. glabra var. tenuis Palibin; O. glareosa Vassil­czenko; O. salina Vassilczenko; O. tenuis Palibin.

Herbs, (8-)20-80(-100) cm tall, caulescent, tuft-forming. Stems erect (or sprawling), with 2-4 or more apparent inter­nodes from a multiheaded caudex, with many branches, with appressed trichomes. Stipules ovate to lanceolate-ovate, herba­ceous, basally connate, distinct part (2-)5-10 mm. Leaves (3-)5-15 cm, 11-29-foliolate; leaflet blades lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic, (4-)5-25 × (1-)3-7 mm, abaxially sparsely pubescent, adaxially glabrous or strigose, base rounded to broadly truncate, apex acute to retuse. Racemes 4-7 cm, lax, few to many flowered; peduncle (2-)5-20 cm, slightly shorter to longer than leaves; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 1-2 mm, membranous, with sparse trichomes, apex acute. Flowers spreading to declined. Calyx campanulate, (2.2-)4-5 mm, appressed white pubescent; lobes lanceolate, triangular, or sub­ulate, 1.5-2 mm. Corolla purple to bluish purple; standard (5-)7-8(-10) mm, lamina orbicular, apex slightly emarginate; wings (5-)6-7 mm, apex rounded; keel (4.2-)5-6 mm, beak 0.2-0.5 mm. Legume stipitate; stipe 1-2.5 mm; body sub­cylindric, 1-2 × 0.3-0.5 cm, pendulous, slightly inflated, mem­branous, 1-locular, with appressed white or white and black tri­chomes, glabrescent, beak 1-1.5 mm. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 16.

"Oxytropis puberula" (Borissova, Trudy Tadzhikistansk. Bazy 2: 169. 1936) belongs here but was not validly published because no Latin description or diagnosis was provided (Vienna Code, Art. 36.1).

Hillsides, roadsides, sandy areas, scrub, damp places, floodplains, fields, sandy flats, semistabilized sand dunes, steppes, desert meadows; 400-4400 m. Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qing­hai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Xinjiang, Xizang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].