Annual or short-lived perennial, erect up to 1 m tall, branches glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Leaf imparipinnate, 5-10 cm long, petiole c. 6-10 cm long; leaflets 9-21, c. 1.8-2.8 cm long, c. 6-10 mm wide, elliptic-oblong, obtuse or truncate, mucronate, glabrous above, appressed silky below; stipules narrowly triangular. Inflorescence a leaf-opposed raceme, some flowers in the upper leaf-axils also. Bract c. 4 mm long. Pedicel c. 4 mm long. Calyx pubescent, cup c. 1.5 mm long, teeth c. 2-3 mm long. Corolla reddish purple or bright pink. Vexillum c. 6-9 mm long, pubescent externally. Ovary pubescent, style flattened, glabrescent, stigma penicillate to almost glabrous. Fruit c. 4-6 cm long, c. 4-5 mm broad, pubescent, 6-9-seeded.

Fl. Per.: October January.

Holotype: Ceylon, Herb. Hermann Vol. l,fol.37 (BM).

Distribution: Southern Asia, Australia, Tropical Africa, southwards to Natal; introduced in Tropical America.

Appreciable variation is met with in the number of hairs on the stigma.