Caragana brevispina Royle

A deciduous shrub up to 8 ft high, the young wood covered with fine down. Leaves pinnate; the common stalk (or rachis) is sharp-tipped, 1 to 3 in. long, remaining after the leaflets have fallen, and developing ultimately into a woody spine; stipules in the form of spines 1⁄4 in. long. Leaflets ten to fourteen on each leaf, oblong or oblanceolate; 1⁄3 to 1 in. long, 1⁄16 to 1⁄3 in. wide; covered when young with flattened silky hairs. Flowers yellow, about 3⁄4 in. long, produced three or four together at the end of a common stalk 1 to 2 in. long. Calyx 1⁄3 in. long, bell-shaped, with five narrow, fine-pointed teeth, downy. Pod 2 in. long, glabrous outside, woolly within.

Native of the north-western Himalaya at 5,000 to 9,000 ft elevation, distinguished from arborescens by the long, fine-pointed spines developed from the leaf-stalks, and by the several (not solitary) flowers on each stalk. It flowers in June. It is in cultivation in the R.H.S. Garden at Wisley from SSW 8135.