Atraphaxis virgata (Regel) Krasn.

Shrubs 1.5-2 m tall. Stem thick, with brown-gray bark, branched. Stem branches slender, straight, without spines. Ocrea white, cylindric, 2-3 mm, membranous, pellucid, upper part cleft into 2 sharp teeth; veins 2, prominent. Petiole very short, 0.5-1 mm; leaf blade gray-green, oblong-elliptic or oblong-obovate, large, 2-2.5 × 0.7-0.9 cm, both surfaces glabrous, veins conspicuous only abaxially, base narrowing into petiole, flat or slightly downward revolute, apex acuminate. Pedicel 8-10 mm, jointed below middle. Flowers in terminal racemes 10-15 cm. Tepals 5, pink, with white margin or white; inner segments elliptic, 4-5 × 5-6 mm, margin revolute, apex rounded, outer segments pink, rounded. Achenes dark brown, shiny, narrowly ovate, trigonous, ca. 5 mm, smooth, apex acuminate. Fl. and fr. May-Jul.

Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan].

Steppes and stony desert slopes; 600-1000 m.

Atraphaxis lanceolata var. virgata Regel, Trudy Imp. S.-Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 6: 397. 1879.