Shrubs to 1.3 m. Stems slender; branches green, glabrous, much branched; branchlets gray hairy. Leaves 10-15 cm; stipules very small or nearly absent; petiole 1-2 cm, inflated at base; leaflets 11-33(-39), opposite or nearly alternate; petiolule 1-2 mm, slightly inflated; blades oblong, elliptic, ovate-oblong, or lanceolate, 15-25 × 10-15 mm, leathery, terminal one largest, 30-40 × ca. 20 mm, gray-brown hairy abaxially, glabrous or sparsely pubescent adaxially, midrib obvious abaxially, base rounded or slightly cordate, apex cuspidate. Inflorescence a raceme or branched into a panicle from base, terminal, 10-30 cm; rachis and peduncle hairy; bracts small, subulate, hairy. Flowers 10-12 mm; pedicel ca. 5 mm. Calyx cup-shaped, ca. 2 × 3-4 mm; teeth small, gray-brown hairy. Corolla yellow or dark purple; standard orbicular, ca. 6 × 5 mm, shortly stipitate; wings slightly longer than standard, oblong or ovate-oblong, 1-auriculate at base; keel longer, obovate, ca. 9 × 4 mm, 1-auriculate at base. Stamens 10, slightly fused at base. Ovary hairy; ovules 4; style straight, glabrous; stigma hairy. Legumes moniliform, 3-5 cm, sparsely pubescent, dehiscent along both sutures. Seeds 1-3, ovoid, black. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Dec.
Forests on sunny slopes, scrub on stony mountains, calcareous or sandstone hill slopes; at elevations from 1,000-2,000 metres.
Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
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