Shrubs to 3 m tall. Old branches grayish brown to dark gray; current-year branchlets brown. Leaves pinnate, 8-16-foliolate; petiole and rachis 1.5-5 cm, persistent on long branchlets, caducous on short branchlets; leaflet blades obovate-oblong to elliptic, 3-8 × 2-4 mm, appressed pubescent when young but later only abaxially pilose, apex obtuse to acute. Flowers solitary or in pairs on a peduncle. Pedicel 1-2 cm, articulate near middle. Calyx tube dark brown, campanulate, 0.8-1.2 cm. Corolla yellow but standard violet-purple when dry, 2-2.2 cm; standard obovate, claw ca. 1/2 as long as limb, apex emarginate; wings with claw shorter than limb, auricle 1, slender, and slightly shorter than claw; keel with a claw ± as long as limb, auricle dentiform and small. Ovary densely pubescent. Legume cylindric, 3-4 cm, outside pilose, inside densely pubescent, apex acuminate. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 16*.