suffruticose, ascending, flexuous, variably pubescent or glabrescent; branches rib-striate; leaves on longish petioles, 2–1-jugate; leaflets linear-lanceolate, 2–4 uncial, margined, obliquely nerve-striate, the terminal longest; racemes opposite the leaves, elongate, interruptedly pluri-flowered; legumes narrow-linear, 2–2 1/2 uncial, velvetty or subglabrous, many-seeded, somewhat turgid. Stem 6–12 inches to 2 feet long, subsimple, the shorter ones nearly erect, the longer angularly bent and either ascending or procumbent. Leaflets of the upper leaves 3–4 inches long, and 3–4 lines wide, acute or acuminate; of the lower leaves shorter, broader, and more obtuse. Pubescence variable. Flowers in pairs, about an inch apart, on a long peduncle. Legumes 2 inches or more in length. Var. β. is not always glabrous, and in other respects is so like α, that we consider it best to unite them.
