Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs.

Stems: Stems erect, up to 25 dm long, terete (cylindrical), densely pubescent, taproot with slender branches, nodules often present.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Blades elliptic. Leaves, 4.5–9 cm long, 1.5–3 cm wide. Apex rounded to acute, often mucronulate. Base cuneate, often rounded. Upper surfaces densely sericeous; lower surfaces sparsely pubescent. Margins entire. Veins 3–9 on each side of midvein. Petioles up to 2 mm long. Stipules linear–triangular, up to 4 mm long.

Flowers: Flowers in racemes, flowers 18–27 mm long, 4–12 in terminal and axillary, moderately crowded inflorescences, rachis 5–10 cm long (incl. peduncle), bracts ovate, 4–8 mm long, appressed, persistent. Flowers papilionaceous; bracteoles on upper pedicel, ovate. Calyx densely pubescent to sericeous, the tube 2.5–3 mm long, the lobes 9–12 mm long, lateral lobes distinct at apex. Calyx slightly bilabiate, the lobes shorter than to longer than the tube. Petals yellow, standard 13–21mm long, 14–17 mm wide, wings obovate, 8.6–12.5 mm long, ca. 7 mm wide, keel petals short, beak not twisted, margins ciliate. Stamens 10, connate into a tube, the tube split at least at base on the upper side; anthers dimorphic, alternately long (and basifixed) and short (and versatile). Elongated anthers 3–3.3 mm long, short ones 0.3–0.5 mm long. Ovary superior.

Fruit: Pods brown at maturity; 0.8–1 cm long; nonstipitate; densely pubescent; enclosed by the calyx. Seeds 1–2 per pod; dark brown; to 4–5.1 mm long; smooth.

Ploidy: 2n = 16

Habitat: Along roadsides and in pastures.

Elevation Range: 50–120 m.