全 文 ：植 物 分 类 学 报 44 (2): 187–188(2006) doi:10.1360/aps040137
Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica http://www.plantsystematics.com
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Received: 2 July 2004 Accepted: 31 May 2005
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 30270106.
* Author for correspondence. E-mail: .
Onobrychis micrantha Schrenk, a newly recorded species
of Leguminosae from China
CHANG Zhao-Yang* WU Zhen-Hai XU Lang-Ran
(College of Life Sciences, Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agricultural and Forestry, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China)
Abstract Onobrychis micrantha Schrenk (Leguminosae) is reported as a new record to
China. As a result, Onobrychis includes four species in China. A key to the four species is
given.
Key words Onobrychis, Onobrychis micrantha, new record, Xinjiang, China.
In the course of collecting plants of Leguminosae in Xinjiang from May to June in 2004,
we discovered a small annual herbaceous plant belonging to Onobrychis Mill., which has
been identified as O. micrantha Schrenk, and represents a new record to China.
Onobrychis micrantha Schrenk in Fisch. & Mey., Enum. Pl. Nov. I: 85. 1841; A. A. Gross.
in Kom., Fl. URSS 13: 328, t. 14, fig. 5. 1948; Semiotr. in Pavl., Fl. Kazakhst. 5: 443, t. 54,
fig. 4. 1961; S. I. Ali in Nasir & Ali., Fl. W. Pakist. 100: 328, fig. 46, A–G. 1977.
小花红豆草 新拟
Plants annual, up to 15–35 cm high. Stems erect, branched from the base or nearly
simple, densely covered with white spreading hairs. Stipule membranaceous, subulate,
densely white hairy. Leaves different in size; the lower ones 1.5–2 cm long, with petioles ca.
1–1.5 cm, leaflets 1–2 pairs, ovate-oblong, 6 mm long, 3 mm wide; the middle and upper ones
up to 10–11 cm long, with petioles ca. 2.5–3.5 cm, leaflets 5–7 pairs, linear-lanceolate,
densely covered with spreading hairs on abaxial surface, glabrous and brown speckled on
adaxial surface except for along margins, 1.5–2.5 cm long, 2–4 mm wide, apex acute, base
narrowly cuneate. Racemes up to 20–30 cm in fruit, 2–2.5 times longer than leaves. Pedicels
ca. 20–27 cm, loosely 5–8-flowered. Calyx campanulate, 2.5–3.5 mm long, densely hairy,
with linear-subulate teeth as long as or 1.5–2 times longer than calyx tube. Corolla reddish
yellow; standard glabrous, oblong-ovate, 5–6 mm long, 2.5 mm wide, apex retuse or rounded;
wings oblong, apex acuminate, shortly clawed, 4 mm long, 1 mm wide; keels oblong, apex
obtuse, shortly clawed, 5–6 mm long, 2 mm wide. Fruit semi-orbicular, 11–15 mm long, with
reticulate ridges on surface, 1-locular with 1 seed, spinulose on the margin and ridges, densely
adpressed hairy. Seeds brown, ovoid-rounded, 4 mm long, 2.5 mm wide. Fl. Apr.–May; fr.
May–Jul.
China. Xinjiang (新疆): Huocheng (霍城), Khorgos (霍尔果斯), Hongkazi (红卡子),
44˚17.244′ N, 80˚24.741′ E, alt. 975 m, on foot of gravelly hill, 2004-05-15, Z. Y. Chang et
al. (常朝阳等) 2004217 (WUK).
Distribution: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Pakistan. New record to China
(Xinjiang).
Onobrychis micrantha is very similar to O. pulchella Schrenk, which was first recorded
from China by Wu (1988), but differs by having separate spines on fruit. Thus, the genus
Onobrychis has included so far four species in China, with three wild ones and a cultivated
one (Zhang & Xu, 1998). They are keyed out as follows:
Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica Vol. 44 188

Key to the Chinese species of Onobrychis
1. Annual.
2. Spines of fruit connate into translucent membranaceous margins; calyx 4 mm long; leaflets 25–30 mm
long ⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯ 1. O. pulchella
2. Spines of fruit distinct or separate; calyx 2.5–3.5 mm long; leaflets 10–20 mm long ⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯
⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯2. O. micrantha
1. Perennial.
3. Wild plant; racemes without tufty hairs before flowering⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯3. O. tanaitica
3. Cultivated plant; racemes covered with tufty hairs before flowering ⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯4. O. viciifolia

Onobrychis, with ca. 120 species worldwide, is a genus distributed mainly in northern
Africa, western and central Asia, and Europe. Among the four species in China, O. tanaitica
Spreng is widely distributed in Xinjiang, while O. pulchella and O. micrantha have been only
known from one population in China, with central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran as their primary
diversity center. Onobrychis viciifolia Scop., a species native in Europe, has been widely
cultivated in China as a forage plant in northern and northwestern China.
Onobrychis micrantha grows on shady slope of a gravelly hill near the border area
between China and Kazakhstan. It occurs as a companion species in mountain steppe, in
which the dominant species are Stipa capillata L. and Bothriochloa ischaemum (L.) Keng,
mixed with species of Astragalus L., Oxytropis DC., Artemisia L. and Potentilla L. Caragana
kirghisorum Pojark. is the only shrub occurring in the community.
Acknowledgements We thank Professor S. B. Ho for his kind help with the translation of
Russian literature.
References
Wu Z-H (吴振海). 1988. Two new record species of Leguminosae from China. Bulletin of Botanical Research
(植物研究) 8 (3): 153–156.
Zhang Z-W (张振万), Xu L-R (徐朗然). 1998. Onobrychis Mill. In: Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (中
国植物志). Beijing: Science Press. 42 (2): 218–221.
中国豆科植物一新记录种——小花红豆草
常朝阳* 吴振海 徐朗然
(西北农林科技大学生命科学学院 陕西杨凌 712100)
摘要 报道了小花红豆草Onobrychis micrantha Schrenk在中国新疆的分布。该种的分布区以往仅在中亚
的哈萨克斯坦、巴基斯坦等地以及阿富汗和伊朗有记载。它与美丽红豆草O. pulchella Schrenk接近, 区
别在于前者荚果的刺分离 , 而后者荚果的刺彼此结合成膜质透明的隔膜。至此 , 中国红豆草属
Onobrychis的种类已达4种, 包括3个野生种和1个引进栽培种。给出了4种植物的检索表。
关键词 红豆草属; 小花红豆草; 新记录; 新疆; 中国