Herbs, perennial. Roots and rhizomes slender. Stem erect or diffuse, 10-30 cm tall, sparsely pubescent and glandular hairy. Leaves 2.5-10 cm, (5 or)7-or 9-foliolate; stipules ovate-triangular, 4-6 × 2-4 mm; petiole sparsely pubescent and glandular hairy; leaflets gray-green, ovate, broadly ovate, obovate, or elliptic, 10-30 × 3-18 mm, abaxially sparsely pubescent and glandular hairy, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate, margin small spiny-hairy. Racemes much flowered; rachis longer than leaves, pilose, glandular hairy; bracts linear-lanceolate, 3-6 mm, membranous. Calyx cylindric, 7-12 mm, sparsely pubescent, 5-toothed; upper 2 teeth slightly joined. Corolla light purple or purple; standard oblong, 13-15 × 5-6.5 mm, base narrowed to claw, apex rounded; wings 1.2-1.4 cm; keel 1-1.1 cm. Ovary glabrescent. Legume usually falcate to curved into a ring, brown, moniliform, 1.5-2.5 cm, glabrous. Seeds 2-10, black-brown, orbicular. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 16*.
Margins of farms, riverbanks, steppes; at elevations from 100-800 metres. Dry steppes, semideserts, desert oases in central Asia.
Can be grown by divisions or seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
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