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Perennial herb with a woody rootstock, up to 0.5 m. tall.. Stems appressed strigulose.. Leaf-rhachis up to 5 cm. long, including a petiole of up to 3 cm., prolonged up to 2 cm. beyond lateral leaflets; stipules sublinear, up to 8 mm. long; leaflets 3–5, lanceolate, up to 8 cm. long and 1.5 cm. wide, coriaceous, acute, with a dense network of veins prominent on both surfaces, glabrous above (in Flora area), appressed strigulose beneath.. Flowers yellow and red in lax terminal pseudoracemes, sometimes a few in the upper leaf-axils; bracts sublinear, persistent, up to 6 mm. long; pedicels 4–5 mm. long.. Calyx brownish pubescent; tube ± 2 mm. long; teeth triangular, ± 3 mm. long, except the lowest which is 4 mm., the upper pair united almost to the tip.. Standard brownish pubescent outside, emarginate, ± 11 mm. long; wings ± 11 mm. long, with a claw of 3–5 mm.; keel glabrous, ± 7 mm. long.. Upper filament lightly attached, widened but not callous 1 mm. above the base; filament-sheath ± 7 mm., free parts ± 2 mm. long.. Style glabrous, bent through 90° near the base, then straight, linear; stigma with a few short hairs, not penicillate.. Pod appressed strigulose, ± 6 cm. long by 4 mm. wide.. Seed ± 14, oblong-ellipsoid, longitudinal; hilum one-third along the side, hardly arillate.
Leaves with 1–2(3) pairs of leaflets; petiole 0.6–2.8 cm long, or as short as 0.1 cm in var. >i>tzaneenensis, petiole and rachis together 0.8–4.5(7.0) cm long, pubescent like the stem; leaflets 3.5–9 (13 in var. >i>tzaneenensis) × 0.3–1.5 cm, linear to linear-elliptic, linear-oblong or rarely linear-lanceolate, subcuneate at the base, acute to rounded at the apex; upper surface glabrous often with numerous minute gland dots between the veins, lower surface appressed to irregularly spreading pubescent; stipules (3)4–10(13) × 0.3–1 mm, linear.
Calyx (4)5–7 mm long, appressed to spreading-pubescent; lateral teeth equalling to exceeding the tube, upper teeth connate for ½–? their length to form an acute triangle.
Stems erect or decumbent, up to 50 cm high, or up to 90 cm in var. tzaneenensis, unbranched or sparingly branched, subglabrous or appressed to spreading-pubescent.
Flowers in terminal racemes up to 22(30) cm long; bracts 2–5 × c.0.5 mm; pedicels 2–5 (7 in fruit) mm long.
Petals 9–12(15) mm long, red, pink, salmon, orange or yellow; standard truncate to subcordate at the base.
Seeds 9–13(16), 2–3 × 2 × 1 mm, blackish, with a small rim aril at the middle of the longest side.
Pods 55–70 × 3.5–4(5) mm, appressed-pubescent, tending to be glabrescent.
Perennial suffrutex with a vertical stock and herbaceous annual shoots.
Ovary pubescent; style glabrous with pencillate tip.
Staminal tube joined above.
