Herbaceous suffrutex, 0.30-0.75 m tall, erect, sparingly branched; stems annual, triangular in section, pilose, becoming glabrous. Leaves glaucous, slightly fleshy, glabrescent but often abaxially sericeous when young; leaflets narrowly to broadly obovate or elliptical, 50-170 x 20-80 mm, apex rounded or acute; petioles 15-40 mm long, canaliculate; stipules often abaxially sericeous at first, trapezoid, base broadly cuneate, apex acute. Inflorescence racemose, 20-62-flowered, up to 400 mm tall, terminal, rarely becoming leaf-opposed; peduncle 10-100 mm, glabrescent, sericeous or pilose; bracts linear, 6-15 x 0.5-1.5 mm, bracteoles setaceous, 2-3 x 0.5 mm. Calyx sparsely to densely sericeous, lateral sinuses 7-10 mm; upper lip 8-12 mm long, lobes acute, 3-9 x 1.5-2.0 mm; lower lip 8-13 mm long, lobes acute, 1.5-5.0 x 0.5-2.0 mm. Corolla bright to mustard-yellow, standard veins red; standard lamina suborbicular, 7-13 x (6-)11-13 mm, adaxial surface sparsely sericeous centrally, claw 2.5-4.0 mm long; wing laminae obovate to slightly cymbiform, 7-11 x 3-6 mm, with lunate-lamellate sculpturing in the upper basal and upper central zones, claw 2.0-3.5 mm long. Fruit linear, compressed, erect, sparsely sericeous, 60-85 mm long. Seed irregular to suborbicular, compressed, 2-3 mm, sometimes recalcitrant, testa light brown, hilum slightly raised.
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Perennial herb, up to 0.4 m high; erect, robust. Leaves trifoliolate, strongly dimorphic with basal leaves up to 500 mm long; stipules large, ovate. Flowers: in erect, many-flowered racemes, terminal and axillary; corolla bright yellow with red veins; Aug.-Dec. Pods erect, conspicuously black.