Herbs, perennial. Stems almost robust. Stipules oblong to broadly ovate, 6-8 mm, hairy; petiole 4-12 cm; stipels obvious, linear; petiolules 2-5 mm, densely yellowish brown villous; leaflets papery or thickly papery; terminal leaflet usually ovate or ovate-elliptic to broadly elliptic, 3.5-8.5 × 2-4 cm, both surfaces densely yellowish brown villous, basal veins 3, lateral veins 4-6 on each side, slender, base rounded or broadly cuneate, apex with mucro; lateral leaflets obliquely ovate. Cleistogamous flowers not recorded. Racemes 3-7 cm, pubescent; flowers 2-5 clustered; bracts elliptic, deciduously pubescent. Flower 1.5-2 cm; pedicels 2-4 mm, minutely villous. Calyx tubular, 6-8 mm, 5-lobed; lobes unequal, apex with mucro or shortly acuminate, pubescent. Corolla red or purple; petals subequal; standard obovate-elliptic, ca. 1.2 cm, with short stipe; wings elliptic, base with long stipes and acute auricles, apex obtuse; keels similar to wings. Ovary linear, stipitate, with sheathlike disk at base, 2-or 3-ovuled; style glabrous; stigma capitate. Legume elliptic, 2-3 × 0.6-0.9 cm, slightly inflated, clothed with yellowish brown pubescence, base acuminate, apex beaked. Seeds (1 or)2 or 3, blackish gray, reniform, ca. 5 × 3 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.
Home