Description from
Flora of China
Lotus confusus Sergievskaya; L. corniculatus Linnaeus var. versicolor Bongard & C. A. Meyer.
Herbs, perennial, sometimes annual, 10-45 cm, glabrous or puberulent on cauline leaves and calyces. Stem branched from base, erect or ascending. Leaflets 5, apical 3 obovate to obovate-elliptic and obovate-lanceolate, 7-13 × 4-6 mm, base cuneate, apex rounded, basal 2 obliquely ovate, acute, subglabrous on both surfaces. Umbels 1- or 2(or 3)-flowered; peduncle 2-6 cm; sterile bract with 1-3 leaflets. Flowers 8-10 mm. Calyx 5-6 mm; teeth filiform, longer than tube, narrow part of upper calyx teeth more than half their length. Corolla light yellow, then becoming purple or red. Ovary linear; ovules 30-35; style 3-4 mm. Legume cylindric, 20-30 × 2-3 mm. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jul-Oct.
The Chinese record of Lotus frondosus (Freyn) Kuprianova from Xinjiang (FRPS 42(2): 224, 226. 1998) is based on a misidentification of L. krylovii, as were the records from the former Soviet Union by Kuprianova (Fl. URSS 11: 295. 1945). Lotus corniculatus var. frondosus Freyn was described from Turkmenistan and is distributed also in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and SW Asia (Iran and Iraq).
Alkaline or saline swamps and lakeshores. Xinjiang (Junggar Pendi, Kashi Diqu), Xizang [Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, W Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia (European part, Siberia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia (Iran), E Europe (SE Ukraine); introduced in North America (Canada)].