A suberect or spreading annual herb (6–) 10–30 cm. long.. Stems usually much branched below, glabrous or (in Europe) sparsely pilose.. Leaves 2-foliolate; leaflets linear or lanceolate, 1–6·5(–10) cm. long, 1–4·5 mm. wide, attenuate-acute at both ends, glabrous or sparsely pilose; petiole 3–7(–15) mm. long, ending in an awn or, in the case of the upper leaves, an unbranched tendril; stipules narrowly semisagittate, 0·3–1·9 cm. long, the lobes narrow, often almost filiform.. Flowers solitary, axillary; peduncle mostly short and less than 1 cm. in European material but 1–2·5 cm. long in African material; rhachis-prolongation (“bract”) awn-like, 0·5–2(–4) cm. long; pedicels 2–5 mm. long.. Calyx glabrous or almost so; tube 2–3 mm. long; lobes subulate or linear, 3–4 mm. long.. Corolla orange-red, red or white; standard obovate-oblong, 5–9(–10) mm. long, 4–8 mm. wide.. Pod linear-oblong, compressed, 4–6 cm. long, 3·5–6 mm. wide, beaked; sutures thickened; valves with strong raised ± parallel venation.. Seeds dark brown, subglobose, smooth, sometimes pruinose, 2–3 mm. in diameter.
Home