Trailing woody herb, c. 1 m long from a woody rootstock. Stems somewhat angular, at first appressed pubescent, later glabrescent. Leaves alternate, held horizontally; leaflets 3, 4.3–10 × 3.4–12 cm, broadly elliptic, obovate or almost round, broadly rounded or slightly to very distinctly broadly emarginate at the apex, narrowed to a rounded base, glabrous on upper surface, sparsely pubescent and with scattered orange-red glands beneath; nerves visible beneath but neither prominent nor reticulate; petiole 6–12 cm long; rhachis obsolete; petiolules 2.5–5 mm long; stipules 6 mm long, lanceolate, deciduous. Racemes held erect, sometimes sparsely branched, pubescent and glandular; rhachis 8–20 cm long; peduncles c. 6 cm long; pedicels 4–6 mm long; bracts 4 mm long, ovate, acuminate, deciduous; bracteoles 3.5 mm long, linear, ultimately deciduous. Calyx pubescent and glandular; tube 3–3.5 mm long; lobes 5.5–10 mm long, lanceolate, the upper pair joined for about three-quarters of their length. Standard carmine, purple or bluish-purple, 1.3 × 1.2 cm, obovate; keel often pale. Pods 5.2 × 1.6 cm, oblanceolate-falcate, with somewhat raised venation, covered with fine white pubescence and glands. Seeds brown, densely mottled with blackish on the faces, c. 6 mm in diameter, 2 mm thick, irregularly discoid, compressed; hilum short; aril obsolete.
