Herbs, 1-3 m. Stems twining, slender, densely pubescent or glabrous. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; stipules ovate-lanceolate, persistent; petiole 2.5-7.5 cm; stipels linear; leaflets broadly ovate, ovate, or suborbicular, 1.5-6.5 × 1.1-5.5 cm, membranous to thinly papery, base rounded, apex rounded, slightly concave, with small mucro. Raceme axillary, axis 9-15 cm, lower 2 or 3 nodes with reduced, sessile, circular or reniform leaflets; peduncle 1-2.5 cm. Flowers ca. 10 mm; bracts and bracteoles lanceolate, persistent. Calyx tubular, 4-lobed; lobes lanceolate, shorter than tube. Corolla red, purple, or light purple; standard elliptic-obovate, apex slightly obtuse, slightly emarginate; wings oblong, subequal to keels. Ovary sessile. Legume linear, compressed, 3-5 × 0.2-0.6 cm, apex beaked, dehiscent or indehiscent. Seeds 5 or 6, brown, lustrous. Fl. Sep-Mar, fr. Nov-Mar.
Often climbing over shrubs and trees in mountains, along roadsides, forest margins, under thickets; at elevations from 900-2,200 metres.