A native evergreen vine. Leaves are alternate and leathery, pinnately divided into 3 leaflets, up to 30cm long. Leaflets are elliptic or obovate. The lateral leaflets are on very short stalks, each 9 to 16cm long and 2 to 6cm wide. The leaf margin is entire, with obtuse base and pointed apex. Racemes are hanged from axils or old branches, each 20 to 38cm long with about 30 nos. of flowers. Flowers are ivory, often with greenish tinge, up to 10cm long. Calyx bell-shaped, toothed, with loose rusty hairs. Standard petal is short, not turned back. Keel petals is the longest with pointed. Fruit is a leathery pod, 30 to 45cm long and 9 to 16cm wide, ridged along the margins, containing 5 to 13 seeds.

Emmenagogue (stem)

The decoction of stem is useful for treating pain in the waist and knees, numbness in the extremities, arthralgia, and irregular menstruation, and amenorrhea. The seeds are also used to treat joint pain and irregular menstruation.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 604, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.