Herbs, short-lived or perennial, erect to ascending, 10-80 cm tall. Stems sometimes branched above base, occasionally branched only at base, appressed pubescent to spreading pilose. Stipules acicular, minute, caducous, sometimes apparently absent. Leaves simple, subsessile; leaf blade oblanceolate, elliptic, or obovate, 1-2.5 × 0.4-1.2 cm, abaxially strigose, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate, apex obtuse and mucronate. Racemes terminal, often on lateral branches, rarely leaf-opposed, to 20 cm, 20-30-flowered; bracts filiform, ca. 1 mm. Pedicel 3-5 mm; bracteoles inserted at base of calyx tube, similar to bracts. Calyx 2-lipped, 4-8 mm, parted; abaxial 3 lobes lanceolate; adaxial 2 lobes broader, falcate, apices slightly obtuse to acuminate. Corolla pale yellow; standard elliptic, 5-8 mm, base with appendages, apex barbate; wings oblong, ± as long as standard; keel rounded, narrowed apically from middle and extended into a twisted beak. Ovary subsessile. Legume cylindric, ca. 1 cm, slightly exserted beyond calyx, 6-12-seeded, glabrous. Fl. May-Sep, fr. Sep-Dec.
Open hillsides at elevations from 400-2,200 metres in Nepal. Dry deciduous and open forests, scrub in jungles and in clearings and open grassland, also found as a weed of rice fields in India; at elevations up to 2,800 metres.
Can be grown by seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
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