Shrubs, erect, 1-3 m tall, much branched. Branchlets ad­pressed pilose. Leaves 3-foliolate; petiole 1-2.5 cm; leaflets broadly ovate, ovate-elliptic, or obovate, terminal one 1.5-4.5 × 1-3 cm, abaxially adpressed pilose, adaxially glabrous, apex rounded or emarginate, apiculate. Racemes axillary, shorter than subtending leaves, rarely subequal to leaves; peduncle short or inflorescences subsessile. Pedicel short, white hairy. Calyx 2-2.5 mm, 5-lobed; lobes lanceolate. Corolla reddish purple, ca. 1.1 cm; standard obovate, base clawed; wings oblong, ca. 1/3 shorter than standard and keel, base distinctly auriculate, clawed; keel subequal to standard, base auriculate, clawed. Leg­ume globose, slightly flat, 6-7 × ca. 5 mm, densely hairy, re­ticulate veined. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep. 2n = 22.

The branchlets are used for making baskets, and the leaves are used as forage for livestock.

Mountain slopes, thickets, forests; below 1500 m. Gansu, Guang­dong, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Russia].