Herbs, annual, 45-100 cm tall, glabrous, with thin taproot. Stems erect, weak, ridged, hollow, leafy throughout, branched mainly above. Petiole 5-13 cm below, upward gradually shorter, base conspicuously long vaginate; blade glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, triangular, 5-12 × 4-10 cm, tripinnate; primary leaflets 3 or 4 pairs, petiolulate; secondary leaflets 2 or 3 pairs, shortly petiolulate; ultimate leaflets deeply or slightly 2-7-divided; lobules obovate to oblanceolate, apex obtuse to acute, shortly mucronate; upper leaves smaller and less divided. Raceme spikelike, 5-15 cm, densely 20-40-flowered, lateral inflorescence shorter and fewer flowered; lower bract deeply divided, upper ones obovate to oblanceolate, entire to slightly divided or dentate, often purple and ± undulate, 2-5 mm. Pedicel 2-3 mm, sharply recurved in fruit. Sepals white or purple, 1.5-2 mm, deeply fimbriate. Corolla yellow, or apical keels of outer petals often purplish green; outer petals with rather broad acuminate dentate limb, and conspicuous dentate crests, attenuate toward tip, decurrent to tip of spur; spur upturned, 6(-7) mm; lower petal without pouch; inner petals 6(-7) mm. Stigma with 4 long-stipitate apical papillae, and 2 lateral geminate papillae. Capsule cylindric, 4-7 × 1.5-2 mm, 2-5-seeded; style 3-3.5 mm. Seeds in 1 row, nearly orbicular, 1.3-1.5 mm, smooth or usually densely tuberculate (in same population); elaiosome small. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.
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