Liana, high climbing to treetops or less commonly an erect shrub 2-4 m tall, the pubescence uncinate; stems to 1 cm thick, the branches terete, 3-8 mm thick, usually hollow, longitudinally striate sulcate, uncinate pubescent and short rufo-pilose, becoming glabrate; bark dark colored, splitting in longitudinal strips ex-posing a light-colored interior. Leaves trifoliolate, leaflets mostly oblong elliptic, narrowed rapidly to an acumen 1-2 cm long, the apex obtuse to acute, mucronate, the base broad, cuneate to obtuse, upper surface glabrous, short pilose on the midrib, rarely pilose on the primary nerves, the lower surface pilose to strigose, becoming glabrate with few scattered hairs or hairs confined to midrib and major nerves, 7-15(18) cm long, 3-7(9.5) cm wide, the veins impressed above, raised below, the lateral veins alternate, 9-13 pairs, basally parallel to the midrib, then straight ascending with arcuate tips, minor nerves conspicuous, nearly parallel and perpendicular to the lateral veins from the middle to the tip, minor veins conspicuously reticulate; petiole 4-11 cm, longitudinally striate sulcate, often gradually twisting, the pubescence uncinate and rufo-strigose to pilose, glabres-cent; rachis 1-3 cm long, stipules deciduous, ovate to lanceolate, (4)6-7 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, striate, pubescence strigose, the apex densest and ciliate; stipels linear to subulate, subequal to shorter than petiolule, deciduous, lateral stipels 4-7 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, the terminal stipels 1-3 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide, pubescence uncinate and strigose to pilose; petiolules (3)4-6(8) mm long. Info-rescences axillary and cauliflorous, 0.5-4 cm long, several flowered, the inter-nodes crowded 4-8 mm long, flowers usually paired at the nodes, axes usually densely pilose; bracts usually 3, persistent, 4-6 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, ovate, acuminate, weakly concave and appressed to pedicel, spreading to reflexed in age, striate, pubescence uncinate and strigose; pedicels 4-6 mm, strigose pilose, 1 mm thick, becoming 5-8 mm long in fruit, 3 mm thick, glabrate; bracteoles ovate to lanceolate, 4-6 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, acuminate, strigose ciliate, striate, inserted 1 mm below calyx. Flowers showy, chasmogamous, various shades of pink, rarely violet, the standard having darker pink, red, to purple lines within, the wings and keel white to pale pink; calyx tinged purple, finely strigose, striate, the tube 17-24 mm long, 5-8 mm wide near base to 9-12 mm wide at the throat, the lobes 4-5(6) mm long, broadly ovate, ca. 3 mm wide at the base, abruptly narrowed to the 2 mm long acumen, strigose and tinged red; standard (5.5)6.5-8.0 cm long, 3.5-4.5 cm wide, claw ca. 15-19 mm, densely rufo-veluti-nous outside in bud, tawny tomentose at maturity, the wings extending beyond the keel 8-10 mm, the blade 25-30 mm long, 7-10 mm wide, the claw ca. 18-27 mm and uncinate pubescent, densest near the base of the blade, the keel falcate, the blade 11-17 mm across, 4-6 mm wide, the claw 30-38 mm; staminal column nearly straight, 43-49 mm long, the free filaments 3-4 mm, curved abruptly in-ward, the anthers 1.8-2 mm long, ca. 0.7 mm wide; gynophore ca. 1 mm long, densely pubescent, the ovary 18-22 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, dense rufo-tomentose, the style 16-25 mm long, pilose bearded and uncinate, the stigma subcapitate, ca. 0.9 mm wide. Fruit stipitate, brown, hanging, the valves flat but weakly turgid around the seeds, densely rufo-strigose, 19-23 cm long, 18-24 mm wide, the beak usually 4-6 mm long, twisting at maturity, the stipe 24-33 mm long, 2-3 mm thick, included in the persisting calyx to shortly exserted, pubes-cence uncinate and reddish pilose strigose; seeds nearly orbicular, compressed on 2 sides, dark brown, smooth without a sticky coat, 9 mm long, 9-10 mm wide, 3 mm thick.
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