Shrublets, 10-16 cm tall, from a thickened multiheaded caudex, forming a hemispherical cushion. Branches thick and tough. Stipules oblong, scarious, adnate to petiole, basally connate, margin ciliate, apex obtuse. Leaves 2-4 cm, 19-31-foliolate; petiole and rachis persistent, spinescent, with whitish trichomes; leaflets opposite; leaflet blades linear to oblong, 7-8 × 1-1.5 mm, caducous, both surfaces with appressed white trichomes, apex acuminate. Racemes 1-or 2-flowered; peduncle shorter than leaves, with dense whitish trichomes; bracts lanceolate, thinly scarious, with appressed trichomes, apex acute. Calyx tubular, 0.9-1.1 cm, thinly scarious; lobes subulate, 1.2-2 × ca. 0.5 mm. Corolla purple; standard 1.7-2 cm, lamina ovate to elliptic, apex rounded; wings 1.5-1.8 cm, lamina obovate; keel 1.8-1.9 cm, beak 1-2 mm. Legume sessile, ovoid, ca. 2 × 1-1.2 cm, subglabrous with sparse trichomes on abaxial and adaxial sutures, septum ca. 2.5 mm wide, apex acuminate. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug.