Nine bacterial strains isotated from root nodules of Astragalus sinicus were compated with 41 reference strains Including the type strains of the type speciers of the genera Rhigobium Bradyrhigobium and Agrobacterium by performing a aumerical analysis of 200 henotypefeatures Represntativestrains belonging to different clusters were further compared with similar bacteria by using data from gelelectroporesis of whole-cell proteins DNA G+C content data and DNA-DNA hybridization data The rhizobial strains isolated from nodules of A Ssinicus constitute a ditincl homology group that isquite dfferent from previously described Rhizobium Radyrhizobium and Agrobacterium species and from strains isotaled from other Astragalus species we propose the name Rhizobium huakuil sp nov for the strains isolated rom A sinicus Type strain CCBAU 2609(=103) has been deposited in the Culture Collection of Beijing Agricultural University Beijing, Prople's Republic of China.