Subshrub, woody below, branched above, 0·9–2·4 m. tall.. Branches densely covered with adpressed and spreading silvery white or ferruginous hairs.. Leaflets 3, ovate, elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, 4–16 cm. long, 1·5–7·2 cm. wide, acuminate or rarely only subacute at the apex, rounded at the base, velvety pubescent on both surfaces but particularly beneath, sparsely glandular above, more densely so beneath; venation raised beneath; petiole (1·5–)2–4·2 cm. long; rhachis 2–8 mm. long; petiolules 4–7 mm. long; stipules oblong-elliptic or sometimes narrower, 1–2·6 cm. long, 0·4–1·1 cm. wide, hairy, veined.. Racemes terminal and axillary, the upper ones forming together a large paniculate inflorescence; individual racemes dense, woolly, the rhachis 4–9 cm. long; peduncles 4–9 cm. long, very hairy; pedicels 2–3 mm. long; bracts dull red or yellow with reddish-purple apices, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, (1·1–)1·3–1·6 cm. long, (5–)7–10 mm. wide, acuminate, hairy outside.. Calyx red or mauve becoming papery and enlarging with maturity, shaggy with silvery or ferruginous hairs, 1·3–2 cm. long; lobes unequal, the lower much the longer, elliptic to linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 2–3 times as long as the short tube.. Corolla almost hidden in the hairs of the calyx; standard reddish-purple outside, yellow inside, elliptic, (0·9–)1·2–1·5 cm. long, 6·5–10 mm. wide, densely hairy; wings and keel yellow, glandular.. Pods oblong, 1·2–1·7 cm. long, 0·8–1·2 cm. wide, apiculate, covered with long and short hairs and glands.. Seeds dark or pale brown or pale pinkish-brown, oblong with a slight S-twist, longest dimension 4·5–5·5 mm., shorter dimension 3–3·5 mm., 2–2·5 mm. thick; rim-aril cream.
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