Astragalus pseudovulpinus N. Ulziykh.

Astragalus pseudovulpinus Sanchir ex N. Ulziykh. (Fig. 4) Byulleten’ Moskovskogo Obshchestva Ispytatelei Prirody. Otdel Biologicheskii. Moscow 95 (1): 115 (Ulzikhutag 1990). TYPE MATERIAL. — Russian • Western Mongolia, 31.VII.1972; I. A. Gubanov s.n.; para -, MW [MW0593202] photo! PHENOLOGY. — Flowering and fruiting from July to September. ETYMOLOGY. — The specific epithet refers to the plant's growth form and inflorescence pattern resembling that of a fox. DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT. — Mongolia and China; new record for China, occurring in Qitai county, Xinjiang. This species grows in Gobi and gully. ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — China • Xinjiang, Qitai, Beitashan pre-mountain plain wash; 4.VIII.2016; L.Q. Zhao XJ16-8023; HIMC[HIMC0013432]! • Qinghe, South of Sartogou Township; 4.VIII.2016; L.Q. Zhao XJ16-8024; HIMC[HIMC0013433]! TAXONOMIC NOTES This species is morphologically similar to Astragalus vulpinus Willd., belonging to the same group, Sect. Alopecias (Stev.) Bunge. It is distinguished by several traits: its standard blade is ovoid, unlike the oblong-obovate standard blade of A. vulpinus, its claw is subequal to the blade compared to the claw being 1.5 times longer than the limb in A. vulpinus, and its leaflets are abaxially villous at the midvein, featuring curly ciliate margins with a retuse or emarginate apex, in contrast to the sparsely white hairy leaflets with a rounded apex found in A. vulpinus (Xu & Dietrich 2010).