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Prostrate or weakly ascending perennial; hairs on stems white or yellowish.. Leaf-rhachis up to 14 cm. long, including a petiole of 3–30 mm., prolonged up to 3 mm. beyond lateral leaflets; stipules narrowly triangular-attenuate, often reflexed, up to 12 mm. long; leaflets 5–19, narrowly elliptic-oblong, up to 5 cm. long and 1 cm. wide, rather attenuate at base, rounded and apiculate at tip, pubescent beneath, more sparsely so above; chief nerves 6–7 on each side, each one becoming very thin at the point on the margin where it fuses with the one above it.. Pseudoracemes terminal, rather lax, usually shorter than the peduncle, flowers never in leaf-axils; pedicels up to 5 mm. long; bracts narrowly triangular-attenuate, rather persistent, up to 8 mm. long.. Calyx white pubescent; tube ± 2 mm. long; teeth triangular-attenuate with subulate tips, the lowest ± 3.5 mm., lateral 1.5–3 mm., upper pair 1.5–2 mm. long, one-quarter united, connivent.. Standard greenish and golden pubescent outside, purple within, 14–16 by 11 mm.; keel glabrous, purple, whitish below.. Upper filament lightly attached, dilated 1 mm. above the base; filament-sheath 12–13 mm., free parts 2–3 mm., anthers 0.8 mm. long.. Style pubescent, bent sharply up through 80° at the base, ± 4 mm. long.. Pod 6–7.5 cm. long by 4–5 mm. wide, slightly upturned towards the tip, minutely pubescent; style-base straight, or nearly so; false septa oblique.. Seeds 13–19, marbled, almost smooth, angular, longitudinal, more or less rhomboidal, ± 2.5 × 2.5 × 1.5 mm.; hilum one-third along the side, the aril minute, elliptical.
Leaves with 4–9 pairs of leaflets; petiole 0.2–2.4 (4.4 on occasional leaves) mm long, petiole and rachis together 4–11(13) cm long, pubescent as on the stem; leaflets (1)1.5–4(5.5) × (0.2)0.5–1(1.3) cm, oblanceolate to elliptic-oblong or rarely linear-elliptic or linear-oblong, rounded to subcuneate at the base, rounded to truncate or emarginate at the apex, mucronate; upper surface shortly pubescent, lower surface rather shortly appressed or irregularly pubescent; stipules 4–13(16) mm long, linear to linear-triangular, ± persistent.
Annual or short-lived perennial with the rootstock often becoming somewhat woody, with several prostrate or decumbent-ascending, straggling, branched stems up to 1 m or more long or (var. microfoliata) with the main stem ± erect with usually decumbent branches from near the base.
Calyx (3)4–7(8) mm long, shortly spreading (or appressed in var. >i>arenicola and var. >i>microfoliata) brown or grey pubescent; two upper teeth connate for ?–½ length, all teeth long-acute and ± filiform towards the apex.
Flowers in terminal and axillary, long-peduncled racemes (4)7–22(30) cm long; bracts 3–7 × 0.2–0.6 mm, linear-triangular; pedicels 2–4(6) mm long.
Stems with conspicuous, brown, spreading hairs up to c.1 mm long, or (var. >i>arenicola, var.>i> microfoliata) appressed-pubescent to glabrous.
Pods (38)50–65(76) × 4–5 mm, puberulent to very shortly pubescent with irregular to ± parallel hairs, straw-coloured to brown.
Petals pink to purple or blue, the keel pale; standard 12–17 mm long, the other petals somewhat shorter.
Ovary shortly pubescent; style pubescent.
Stamen tube joined above.
Seeds (10)14–16(18).
