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Suffrutex, ± 0.8 m high; stems erect, branching, angular, subcanescent. Leaves 2-8-jugate, 5-130 mm long; petioles up to 40 mm long. Leaflets 15-110 x 2-7 mm, narrowly linear, complicate, mucronulate, pinnately parallel-veined, secondary veins in fine blackish lines, silver-hairy below. Stipules subulate setaceous. Inflorescences of leaf-opposed racemes, few-flowered; peduncles up to 0.5 m long. Flowers mauve-pink. Calyx with lobes deltoid, narrowly acuminate, tawny-pilose. Petals: standard subrotund, tawny-pilose on main vein and upper part on outside. Style bearded. Pod stipitate, 35-75 x 4 mm, linear, flat, beaked, appressed-pubescent.
Leaves with (0)1–7(8) pairs of leaflets; petiole 0.3–7.5 cm, much shorter to longer than the rachis, the petiole and rachis together (1.5)2.5–13(18) cm, pubescent like the stem; leaflets (1.5)2.5–8(11) × 0.15–7(14) mm, linear or linear-elliptic to oblong, terminated by a usually blackish and often somewhat recurved mucro; upper surface glabrous or rarely pubescent, lower surface appressed-pubescent; stipules (3)4–14(17) × (0.1)0.3–1 mm, linear, blackish.
Flowers in terminal or leaf-opposed long-peduncled racemes (2)8–25(30) cm long, the flowers sometimes (var. >i>swynnertonii) conspicuously clustered into a compact inflorescence at the tip of the peduncle; pedicels 3–8 mm.
Calyx 3–6(8) mm long, shortly appressed to ascending grey or brown-pubescent or villous; upper teeth joined for ? to ½ length; lateral teeth about equalling or slightly exceeding the tube.
Stems shortly but densely appressed-pubescent with grey hairs, or glabrescent in lower parts, or (var. swynnertonii, var. >i>drummondii) with ascending to spreading pale brownish hairs.
Pods (28)50–88 × 4–5 mm, pubescent with irregular geniculate hairs or rarely (var. >i>lissocarpa) with regular straight appressed hairs; seeds (5)10–22.
Annual or short-lived perennial, erect to 1.6 m from a taproot, or suffrutex with many ascending stems to 0.5 m from a woody rootstock.
Ovary pubescent to tomentose; style pubescent.
Petals pink to purple; standard 12–18(22) mm.
Stamen tube joined above.
