Annual or biennial, villous to subglabrous, climbing or procumbent. Leaf paripinnately compound, leaflets 8-24, 3-35 mm long, 1-8 mm broad, oblong-ovate to narrowly linear, mostly pilose; stipules semisagittate or falcate, entire; tendrils branched. Inflorescence an axillary peduncled raceme, peduncle as long as the leaf or shorter. Pedicel 1-3 mm long. Calyx 5-8 mm long, villous to sparsely pubescent, mouth oblique, teeth unequal, shorter or longer than the tube. Corolla violet, purple or blue. Vexillum 10-22 mm long. Fruit 2-4 cm long, 4-12 mm broad, glabrous or appressed pubescent, 2-8-seeded.

Type: Germany near Vegesack (whereabouts of specimens uncertain). Introduced in Mastung soil conservation project.

Distribution: Europe, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, N.Africa; Russia: introduced in Pakistan.

Widely cultivated as a fodder crop.