General:
Annual or biennial herb from a taproot; stems trailing to climbing, 0.5-2 m long/tall, spreading long-hairy.
Leaves:
Alternate, pinnately compound; leaflets 10 to 20, linear-lanceolate to oblong, pointed to rounded at the tip, 1-3 cm long; tendrils well developed, branched, grasping; stipules entire or toothed, 5-12 mm long.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a dense, axillary, mostly 1-sided raceme of (10) 20 to 60 pea-like flowers, the racemes generally longer than the subtending leaves; corollas reddish-purple to two-toned violet and white, 12-18 mm long; calyces long-hairy, 1/3-1/2 the length of the corollas, the tube lopsided-swollen on upper side at the base, the upper teeth shorter than the lower.
Fruits:
Pods, oblong to elliptic, glabrous, 2-3 cm long; seeds several.
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia