ABSTRACT
Classification and Nomenclature Scientific name: Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge and Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus (Bunge) Hsiao. (syn. A. mongholicus Bunge) (Zhu, 1998) Family name: Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) Common names: astragalus, milk vetch (United States), huang-ch’i (China), ogi (Japan), hwanggi (Korea) (Bensky et al., 1986)
Description
Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) grows to a height of 25-40 cm. The fernlike fronds are approximately 20-35 cm long with sulcated, angled stems covered with appressed white hairs. The leaves are 3-6 cm long, with obsolete petioles. The flowers are light yellow and resemble peas. The leaflets, numbering 12-24, are oblong-obovate, oval, or oblong-oval, and glabrous on the leaf surface and vested beneath. The peduncles are firm, axillary, and 4-7 cm long. Astragalus membranaceus has a long, branched tap root and two-valved seed pods (16-19 mm long and 11-15 mm wide) with short, dark hairs. The seeds are kidney-shaped, dark brown, and resem-
ble miniature soybeans (Foster and Yue, 1992; Pedersen, 1994; Morazzoni and Bombardelli, 1994). Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge var. mongholicus (Bunge) Hsiao is found in the mountains and sunny grasslands of northeast China and may be distinguished from A. membranaceus by triangular-ovate stipules, dark yellow flowers, 25-37 leaflets, and hairless seed pods (Foster and Yue, 1992).
