- Scientific Name: Astragalus sinicus L.
- Ref: Mant. Pl.:103. 1767
- Synonyms: Astragalus lotoides Lam.; Tragacantha sinica (L.) Kuntze
- English Common Name: Chinese milkvetch
- Chinese Common Name: 紫云英 zǐ∙yúnyīng
- Japanese Common Name: ゲンゲ [翹揺/紫雲英] genge, レンゲソウ [蓮華草] rengesō
- Family: Fabaceae
- Genus: Astragalus
- Distribution: Wet places, riversides, as a weed in rice fields, widespread in E Asia; 100-3000 m. Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].
- Photo: 03/28/2016, Hangzhou Botanical Garden, Zhejiang
Plants annual or short-lived perennial, sparsely covered with appressed white hairs 0.1-0.6 mm. Stems intricately branched, ascending to nearly erect or prostrate to creeping, with long internodes, up to 30 cm, sparsely hairy to subglabrous, rooting at nodes. Leaves 2.5-10 cm; stipules 2-3 mm, free, ciliate; petiole much shorter than to as long as rest of leaf, like rachis sparsely hairy; leaflets in 3-5 pairs, obovate to obcordate, 5-17 × 3-13 mm, abaxially sparsely appressed hairy, adaxially glabrous or with a few scattered hairs, apex widely rounded to distinctly emarginate. Racemes umbellate, 4-10-flowered; peduncle erect, 2.5-25 cm, sparsely hairy; bracts 0.3-1 mm, ciliate. Calyx 3-5 mm, loosely to rather densely or more rarely scarcely covered with appressed, wide and flattened, white hairs 0.1-0.3 mm; teeth 1-2(-3) mm. Petals white, pink, light red, or purple, rarely creamy yellow or yellow; standard ovate, 9-14 × 5-8 mm, apex incised; wings 7-11 mm; keel 9-14 mm. Legumes with a stipe 2-3 mm, 12-20 mm, 2.5-3.5 mm high and wide, with a slender beak up to 5 mm; valves thin, blackish, loosely hairy. (Flora of China)
03/28/2016, Hangzhou Botanical Garden