Colutea arborescens L.

Shrubs, deciduous, 1-4 m tall. Young branches with fine white hairs. Leaves pinnate, 7-13-foliolate, 6-15 cm, with groove on rachis; stipules triangular or lanceolate-triangular to lanceolate-falcate, 2-3 mm; leaflets abaxially gray-green, adax­ially green, oblong to obovate, 1-3 cm × 6-15 mm, thinly leathery, abaxially sparsely shortly hairy, adaxially glabrous, venation clear and free, apex retuse or obtuse, mucronate. Ra­cemes 5-6 cm, 6-8-flowered; bract ovate-lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, blackish brown or intermixed white scattered shortly sericeous, apex obtuse. Pedicel ca. 1 cm. Calyx ca. 5 mm; tube inside upper part densely pallid to brown hairy; teeth triangular, 1/4-1/3 as long as calyx tube, outside sparsely blackish brown and white sericeous, apex argute. Corolla yellow; standard slightly wider than long, 15-17 mm, base rounded, apex retuse, stalk 2-4 mm, calluses crescent-shaped, slightly convex; wings 11-14 mm, widest near base, to 4 mm wide, upper part often attenu­ate, curved auriculate at one lateral base, equal to stalk, ca. 4 mm, apex obtuse; keel suborbicular to triangular-suborbicular, ± concave, ca. 5 mm wide and trian­gular-suborbicular auricu­late at base, to 11 mm wide at apex, auricle intersecting stalk at an acute angle, stalk 8-9 mm. Ovary densely pubescent; style curved, at slight right angle with ovary, inrolled at apex, adaxially longitudinally white barbate. Legume greenish or slightly red at base, narrowly ovate, 6-8 × 2-3 cm, glabrous to subglabrate, both ends acute. Seeds complanate, blackish to green-brown. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Oct.

It is a temperate plant. It grows in open locations and on limestone soils. It grows in hardiness zones 6-8.

The seeds are poisonous.

Plants can be grown from seeds.