Herbs, perennial; roots tuberous. Stems prostrate, to 60 cm, densely pubescent. Leaves digitately 3-foliolate; stipules ovate, 4-8 mm, persistent; petiole 1-2 cm, wingless, pubescent; petiolules short, densely hairy; leaflets papery; terminal leaflet oblong or nearly obovate, 1-5 × 0.5-2.5 cm, both surfaces sparsely pubescent or almost glabrous, abaxial surface with dense dark red glands, basal veins 3, lateral veins 3-5 pairs, apex and base rounded or almost so; lateral leaflets obliquely elliptic, slightly smaller. Raceme axillary or terminal, 2-10 cm, densely pubescent; bracts lanceolate, ca. 5 mm, striate. Flowers ca. 6 mm, clustered; pedicel ca. 1 mm. Calyx 5-lobed; lobes linear-lanceolate, lower one longest, longer than tube. Corolla slightly longer than calyx; standard elliptic, base with claw and auricles at 2 sides; wings narrowly oblong, base with claw and auricle at one side; keels falcate, clawed. Ovary elliptic, sparsely hairy; style linear, glabrous. Legume elliptic, ca. 5 × 4 mm, sparsely shortly villous and black glandular. Fl. Aug-Sep.
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A small shrub. It grows 1 m high. The roots form tubers. The tubers are smooth and long. They are soft and 3-5 cm long. The leaves have 3 leaflets like fingers. The leaf stalk is 1-2 cm long. The leafy growths (stipules) near the base of the leaves is sword shaped and 0.5 cm long. The leaflets are oblong and 4-6 cm long by 2-3 cm wide. They are softly hairy. The flowers are in a compact group 2 cm long. The petals are like tongues. They are red or purplish. The fruit is an inflated pod 7 mm long. It contains 2 black kidney shaped seeds. These are 2 mm long.
A tropical plant. It grows in savannah grassland and on roadsides. It grows between 1000-3000 m altitude. It is cultivated in the hills in Assam in India. It grows in mountainous tracts in Assam between 1,000-1,600 m altitude. In Sichuan and Yunnan.
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Mountain slopes in Sichuan and Yunnan.
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