A densely branched, deciduous shrub of spreading habit, 4 to 6 ft high; young shoots slightly downy, afterwards armed with very slender spines 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long, developed from the persistent main-stalks of the leaves. Leaflets four or six, pinnately arranged, linear-oblong, 3⁄8 in. long, downy. Flowers solitary, very shortly stalked, yellow, 1 in. long; calyx cylindrical, 3⁄8 in. long, with short triangular lobes, downy. Pod 3⁄4 in. long, downy.
Native of W. Szechwan and Kansu, China, and of E. Tibet; collected by Père Soulié in 1893 at Tongolo, W. Szechwan, near the Tibetan border, but introduced to cultivation by E. H. Wilson, who saw it in flower in June 1908, and collected seed two years later. It is hardy in the Arnold Arboretum, Mass., and makes a handsome shrub there with bright green leaves and bright yellow flowers. It is related to C. spinosa, but that species has spines up to 2 in. in length and longer leaflets.