An annual ascending, decumbent, or prostrate herb with upright main or n-axes. Tap root with four series of spirally arranged lateral roots with abundant branching and usually heavily supplied with nodules. Root tip without epidermis and without root liars. Leaves stipulate, pinnate with two opposite pairs of leaflets, alternately arranged in a 2/5 phyllotaxy on main axis; distichous on higher order branches. Flowers pea-like, enclosed between two bracts, one simple, subtending a very short peduncle, the other bifid, subtending the pedicel; sessile, but appear to be stalked after growth of a tubular hypanthium just before anthesis; petals, orange, yellow, cream or rarely white; inserted between the calyx lobes and ttle fused bases of the anther filaments (staminal column). Fruit, an indehiscent legume up to 10 cm long; seeds 1–5, from less than 1 cm long x 0.5 cm thick to 3.5 cm x 1.5 cm weighing less than weight less than 0.2 g to over 2.0 g. Testa thin, colors pink, red, purple, tan, brown, yellow, white or red and white, pink and white, brown and white, purple and white, or marked with small purple dashes or splashes on a base color.

Antiaggregant, antioxidant, aperient, demulcent, emollient and pectoral (oil from the seeds); anti-inflammatory, aphrodisiac, decoagulant, demulcent, pectoral, and peptic (seeds).

Plants For A Future

5,7-dihydroxychromone, beta-sitosterol, caprylic acid, chrysoeriol, esculetin, gamma-aminobutyric acid, glyceric acid, heptadecanoic acid, isoquercitrin, lauric acid, quercetin, rutin, sterculic acid, stigmasterol (plant); alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol (oil); alpha-linolenic acid, aspartic acid, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, choline, ferulic acid, folacin, gentisic acid, glutamic acid, glutathione, glycine, histidine, isochlorogenic acid, isoferulic acid, lecithin, leucine, leucocyanidin, leucodelphinidin, lignoceric acid, linoleic acid, lysine, methionine, myristic acid, o-coumaric acid, oleic acid, p-coumaric acid, p-hydroxy benzoic acid, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, pantothenic acid, phenylalanine, protocatechuic acid, salicylic acid, serine, sinapic-acid, stearic acid, syringic acid, valine, vanillic acid (seed); ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, tryptophan, tyrosine (leaf)

The oil from the seeds is taken internally in milk for treating gonorrhoea, externally for treating rheumatism. The seeds are indicated in treating arthrosis, cholecystosis, colics, cystosis, dandruff, dermatosis, diabetes, dislocation, dyslactea, eczema, fungal infections, gonorrhea, ichthyosis, infections, inflammation, mycosis, nephrosis, neuralgia, plantar wart, rheumatism, wart and xeroderma. The alcoholic lipoid fraction of the seed is said to prevent haemophiliac tendencies and for the treatment of some blood disorders (mucorrhagia and arthritic haemorrhages) in haemophilia.

James A Duke and Maryl Fulton. Handbook of Medicinal Herbs - 2nd Edition, P: 560, CRC Press July 2002.