Woody shrub 0.9–3.6 m. tall, virgately branched. Stems adpressed pubescent, later glabrous. Leaves 14–32-foliolate; petioles mostly under 1 cm. long; leaflets oblong-elliptic, distinctly rounded at the sides or in one subspecies oblong with parallel sides, 0.65–3.3 cm. long, 0.45–1.35 cm. wide, rounded and mucronulate at the apex, rounded to subcuneate at the base, glabrous above, finely adpressed puberulous beneath. Inflorescences terminal and in upper axils, 13–30 cm. long; peduncle very short; flowers subsessile in numerous fascicles on very short reduced branchlets; pedicels 2.5 mm. long; bracts and bracteoles very short. Calyx adpressed pubescent, obconic, 3 mm. long, truncate or undulate. Corolla cream, yellow or blue and mauve to purple, the wings usually darker than the standard, 1.1–1.4 cm. long. Pods oblong to oblanceolate, 5.2–7.2 cm. long, 0.7–1.15 cm. wide, the valves rather thick and woody, adpressed pubescent and usually markedly tuberculate. Seeds brown with darker brown mottling, arranged in the pod with the longest dimension at right-angles to the long axis of the pod, rounded-oblong or rhombic, compressed, longest dimension 6–7.5 mm., shorter dimension 5–6 mm., 2.5 mm. thick, finely shagreened; hilum small; rim-aril only slightly developed but a cartilaginous funicle remnant is present.
