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General:
Perennial herb; stems prostrate to decumbent, mat-forming, to 60 cm long, slender, freely branching, short-stiff-hairy and also with long soft spreading hairs.
Leaves:
Alternate, palmately compound with leaf stalks 1-2 times as long as the blades; leaflets 5 to 8, narrowly oblanceolate, blunt to rounded with an abrupt point at the tip, 1.5-3 cm long, glabrous or nearly so above, short-stiff-hairy below.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a stalked, loose, terminal raceme, 5-15 cm long, of whorled pea-like flowers, the racemes numerous; corollas blue to purplish often with some white, 11-13 mm long, the banner nearly circular, with a white central patch and glabrous on the back, shorter than the wings, the keel fringed with fine hairs along the upper edges; calyces 2-lipped, the lips about equal in size, the upper lip 2-toothed, the lower one entire.
Fruits:
Pods, 2-3.5 cm long, 6-8 mm wide, sparsely short-hairy; seeds 5 to 12, greyish but dark-mottled.
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
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