Cal bilabiate, the upper lip entire to 2-lobed, the lower evidently 3-lobed; standard reniform to suborbicular, its sides usually reflexed; wings and keel subequal, straight, oblong; stamens 10, distinct; ovary usually shorter than the style; pods stipitate, papery to woody, globose to cylindric or thick-lenticular, terminating in a curved beak; perennial herbs from thick rhizomes, the stem usually much branched, with conspicuous white, yellow, or violet fls in terminal racemes; lvs digitately 3-foliolate, commonly blackening in drying; x=9. Hybrids frequent. 17, U.S.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.