Herbs annual or short-lived perennial, 15-50 cm tall. Stem climbing or trailing, much branched, glabrescent. Leaves paripinnate; stipules semihastate, 3-7 mm, margin toothed; leaflets 3-5-paired, linear-oblong, oblong, or narrowly oblong-oblanceolate to oblong-obovate, 10-25 × 2-8 mm, abaxially pilose, apex usually emarginate and mucronate, thereby often appearing 3-toothed, sometimes truncate or rounded, rarely distal margin also toothed; tendril branched. Raceme subequaling or longer than leaf, 2-4(or 5)-flowered. Calyx campanulate, pilose. Corolla red-purple, blue-purple, or pale violet, sometimes white on keel; standard obovate-lanceolate, longer than wings. Ovary long stalked, sericeous along sutures. Legume oblong, 25-35 mm, glabrous. Seeds 2-8, spheroid. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. May-Aug. 2n = 24, 26, 42.
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A climber. It grows 20-40 cm high. The stems are slender. The are 4 sides and branched. The leaves have leaflets along the stalk. There is a tendril at the end. There are 6-10 leaflets and they are oblong and 1-3 cm long by 3-8 mm wide. The flowers are purple-blue. The pods are flat and oblong. They are 3-4 cm long by 6-8 mm wide. There are 3-8 seeds. They are 3 mm across.
Forests, mountain and hill slopes, valleys, grasslands, meadows, banks above lakes, streamsides, steep rocky sides of river gorges, walls, fields and field margins, wastelands, roadsides, sandy and rocky seashores; at elevations up to 4,200 metres.
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It is a temperate plant. In China it grows on sandy and rocky sea shores and mountain slopes. It grows from sea level to 4,200 m above sea level. In Sichuan and Yunnan.
Can be grown by seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
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