Zygophyllum mucronatum Maxim.

Herbs, perennial, 15-25 cm tall. Roots woody. Stems numerous, tender, much branched, prostrate or spreading, with ribs. Stipules minute, triangular, margin membranous and fringed. Leaves with 4 or 6 leaflets; petiole and rachis with flat wings sometimes as wide as leaflets; leaflet blades linear to linear-oblong, 8-10 × 1-3 mm, base obtuse, apex rounded and mucronate. Flowers axillary, solitary or paired. Pedicel 2-5 mm. Sepals 5, narrowly obovate to oblong, 5-8 × 3-4 mm. Petals 5, orangish red at base and white at apex, obovate, slightly longer than sepals. Stamens longer than petals; anthers orange, oblong-spherical; appendages ca. 1/2 as long as filament. Capsule lanceolate to cylindric, pendulous, with ridges, 5-locular, with 1-4 seeds per locule, apex acuminate to acute. Seeds yellowish brown, ellipsoid to ovoid, surface with dense cavities. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Sep.

Gansu, W Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang [Mongolia].

Hilly slopes, plains, alluvial fans, terraces, sandy soil, loess hills; 800-3500 m.