Description from
Flora of China
Anthyllis cuneata Dumont de Courset, Bot. Cult. 6: 100. 1811; Aspalathus cuneata (Dumont de Courset) D. Don; Hedysarum sericeum Thunberg (1784), not Miller (1768); Lespedeza argyraea Siebold & Zuccarini; L. juncea (Linnaeus f.) Persoon var. sericea Forbes & Hemsley; L. sericea Miquel; L. sericea var. latifolia Maximowicz.
Subshrubs or perennial herbs, to 1 m tall. Stems erect or ascending, hairy. Leaves crowded, 3-foliolate; petiole short; leaflets cuneate or linear-cuneate, terminal one 1-3 × 0.2-0.7 cm, abaxially densely adpressed hairy, adaxially subglabrous, base cuneate, apex truncate or subtruncate, mucronate. Racemes axillary, 2-4-flowered; peduncle short. Calyx narrowly campanulate, 5-lobed; lobes lanceolate. Corolla yellowish or white; standard with purple spots at base; wings subequal to standard; keel slightly long, sometimes mixed with purple at apex. Cleistogamous flowers clustered in leaf axils. Legume broadly ovoid or subglobose, 2.5-3.5 × ca. 2.5 mm, adpressed hairy. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 20*.
Mountain slopes, roadsides; below 2500 m. ?Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, ?Guizhou, ?Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, ?Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, ?Zhejiang [Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; naturalized in North America and Australia].
