E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Perennial herb from a stout taproot and much-branched stem-base; stems spreading to erect, 10-40 cm long/tall, mostly unbranched, glabrous.

Leaves:
Alternate, stalked, pinnately compound, somewhat fleshy; leaflets 9 to 19, oblanceolate to egg-shaped, 5-15 mm long, glabrous at least above; stipules lanceolate, not joined, 2-5 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a compact, axillary raceme of 8 to 25 spreading-ascending, pea-like flowers, the racemes to 3 cm long, on stalks shorter than the leaves; corollas white to pinkish, 8-18 mm long, the banner longer than the wings and keel; calyces hairy, 3-7 mm long, the awl-shaped teeth 1/2 as long as the tube.

Fruits:
Pods, egg- to lance-shaped, tapering to a beak, unstalked, inflated, glabrous to short-hairy, membranous to leathery, curved, 1-3 cm long, not flattened, 2-chambered.

Notes:
Barneby (1964) treats this species as a complex of 34 variants. We do not know enough about the range of variation in BC material to partition it among infraspecific taxa, even if a practical taxonomy existed. Therefore we are treating this entity in the broad sense.