Recently, researchers from Wuhan Botanical Garden, CAS and other institutions discovered a new species of Fabaceae in Zhuxi and Shennongjia of Hubei, China. The new species was named Astragalus bashanense and published in Phytokeys with the title “Astragalus bashanensis(Leguminosae), a new species from Central China”.

This new species is characterized by yellow flowers with calyx lobes longer than calyx tube, wings’ claw nearly as long as the limb and keel-petal’s claw ca. 2/3 of limb. Its white-pubescent linear pods possess a long beak at apex and orbicular-reniform or reniform dark seeds insides.

The plants are distributed widely at roadside, in grassland, on mountain slopes, or at forest edges at elevations from 600 to 2160 m. And the populations have a large number of individuals. The species can be used for ornaments or as animal fodder.

The genus Astragalus is the largest in the world. The discovery of A. bashanense will facilitate the studies of taxonomy, phylogeny and evolution of the genus.

 A. populations of A. bashanense; B. floral parts, B1. standard, B2. keel-petal, B3. ovary and stamen, B4. wings; C. fruits; D. seed (Image by GAN Qiliang)