Trees, 6-8 m tall, reseeder, forming dense clumps especially in deep fire-protected valley sites. Stems erect, reaching a trunk diameter up to 40 cm, grey, woody throughout, not furrowed, start branching in upper portions above 2 m; young plants densely branched and compact, broom-like, very fast growing; branches robust, patent, with two or three branches at each node, culminating in drooping shoots when older. Seasonal shoots densely sericeous when young, becoming sparsely hairy, mostly within grooves of the leaflets, striate, drooping, dark green, smooth, lightly gland dotted; glands drying black; leaves 1(3)-foliolate on seasonal shoots, though most flowering shoots have a filiform leaflet up to 30 mm long, glabrous. Scales 1.5 x 1.2 mm, narrowly triangular, erect to spreading, glabrous, not tightly congested. Inflorescences of 2-4 flowers, borne in uppermost axils of seasonal shoots, pseudo-capitate, maturing sequentially; pedicel below cupulum 1-2 mm long, filiform and flexuous; pedicel above cupulum 3-4 mm long; cupulum bilobed with one of the vexillar lobes variously bilabiate, glabrous, but ciliate along lobe margins; lobes equally developed, glandular and narrowly triangular. Flowers 10-14 mm long, dark mauve, with a small purple spot above the white swollen appendages at base of blade. Calyx 10 mm long, tube 3.5 mm long, glabrous, tube shorter than the lobes; calyx lobes unequal, lower lobe much longer than the other four lobes; lateral and vexillar calyx lobes acuminate, falcate, and narrowly triangular; lower lobe 8.0 x 2.2 mm, broader than the other four lobes; vexillar calyx lobes fused for up to one third of their length above the tube; calyx shorter than the corolla; inner face of calyx lobes densely covered in small black stubby hairs; ribs distinctly thickened; glands dense, constant in size, glands equally dense on lobes and the tube. Standard petal 10 x 9 mm, sub-orbicular; auricles well-developed; apex emarginate; claw 5 mm long, elongated and narrow. Wing petals 12-14 x 4 mm, up-curving and longer than keel, fused to but longer than keel; claw 36 mm long. Keel 11-12 x 3-4 mm; claw 5-7 mm long. Androecium 10 mm long, upper end curved inwards, 10th stamen lightly attached, fenestrate. Pistil 11 mm long; ovary 2 mm long, with very few small stalked glands; style 6 mm long, swollen beyond point of flexure, curved at 4 mm. Fruits 6 x 3 mm, coarsely reticulate, membranous, black; apex beaked. Seeds 4.0 x 2.5 mm, reniform; hilum sub-central, blackish grey.
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