An erect annual or short-lived perennial herb up to 1.5 m tall, commonly branched from the base, arising from the crown of a taproot; all parts moderately white-strigose and densely brown-glandular. Leaves alternate, 1-foliolate; petiole 0.5—3.5 cm long, pulvinate; stipules asymmetrically lanceolate-ovate to deltoid, 3.5—7 mm x 2—3 mm, persistent; leaflet narrowly to broadly ovate, 3—11 cm x 2—7.5 cm, base cuneate to cordate, apex acute, margin variably dentate, glabrescent, glandular punctate on both sides; petiolule 2—3 mm long. Inflorescence an axillary, condensed pseudoraceme, consisting of 20—more flowers; bracts lanceolate, 3 mm long, persistent, rachis 1—4 cm long, peduncle 3—7.5 cm long. Flowers papilionaceous, calyx urceloate-campanulate, 5-lobed, 3—4 mm long, lower lobe 5.5 mm long, glandular; corolla 5—6 mm long, standard obovate to broadly elliptical, clawed, wings oblong, clawed, keel petals clawed, white to bluish-purple; stamens diadelphous; ovary 1-ovuled. Fruit a reniform-ellipsoid pod, 5 mm x 3 mm, indehiscent, with persistent calyx and style, densely black-glandular. Seed adhered to the pericarp.

It is considered a tonic to the genital system, and an aphrodisiac (plant); stomachic, anthelmintic, diuretic and febrifuge (seeds).

PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation

Used to treat the weakness of the spleen and kidneys, pain in the lower back and knees, rheumatism, impotence, polyuria, urinary incontinence in children, threatened abortion and leprosy (plant); prescribed in leucoderma, vitiligo, psoriasis and inflammatory diseases of the skin, both for oral administration and local application (seeds).