A straggling or scrambling woody shrub or semi-woody herb, with branches to 5 m long or more; stems quadrangular, hirsute, armed with four rows of recurved prickles 3-4 mm long on the internodes. Leaves: petiole 3-5 cm, rachis 6-11 cm, furrowed, hirsute, armed with four rows or recurved prickles and with stipellate prickles at the bases of the pinnae; pinnae 3-10 pairs, evenly distributed along the rachis, 1-4.5 cm, hirsute, with recurved prickles on the abaxial side; leaflets 11-30 pairs per pinna, oblong, acute, (2-)3.5-5(-7) by (0.8-) 1-2 mm, with scattered hairs on both surfaces. Inflorescences consisting of axillary, pedunculate, solitary or paired glomerules, peduncles 0.5-0.6 cm long. Flowers subsessile, bisexual, tetramerous. Calyx inconspicuous, 0.4 mm. Corolla narrowly funnel-shaped, 2 mm, finely puberulous; lobes ovate, obtuse, 1 mm. Stamens 8, with pale purple-pink filaments. Ovary c. 1 mm, inconspicuously puberulous. Pods borne in clusters, oblong, slightly curved 1.5-3.5 by 0.4-0.45 cm, with short, prickly bristles on margin and surface of the valves. Seeds yellow-brown, somewhat glossy, c. 3.5 mm.
Uses Originally used as a cover-crop in coco-nui: and other plantations and in tobacco-fields. Duration of growth is 1.5 to 2 years (Burkill, l.c.). Introduced to Java about 1909. Competes lalang su xessfully. Recorded as a catde-fodder.
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