Cal bilabiate, cleft nearly to the base, both lips ovate, the upper minutely 2-toothed, the lower 3-toothed; standard broadly obovate; wings and keel oblong-obovate,
obtuse, the keel hairy along the lower margin; stamens 10, monadelphous in a closed tube, alternately long with globose anthers and short with linear ones; pods short, few-seeded, almost enclosed by the persistent cal; shrubs without normal lvs except in the juvenile stage, the petioles reduced to linear-subulate spines; fls bright yellow, solitary or paired in the axils of the spines. 20, Old World.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.