Herbs annual. Stems sprawling or climbing, filiform, 2–8 dm. Leaves 2–8 cm; tendrils simple or branched; stipules much smaller than leaflets, semisagittate, tips purple, without nectariferous patch; leaflets 8–16, blades nar­rowly oblong-elliptic to linear, 5–23 × 1–6 mm, apex trun­cate to emarginate, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences 2–7-flowered, 1–5 cm, ± shorter than subtending leaf rachis. Flowers 2–4 mm; calyx base symmetric, lobes subequal, equal to or longer than tube; corolla whitish blue to purplish blue, banner stenonychioid, blade equal to claw, glabrous; style terete, sparsely pubescent apically. Legumes black, oblong, 6–10 × 3–4 m, oblique at both ends, hirsute; stipe absent. Seeds 2, greenish ochroleucous to pale reddish brown or chestnut, usually ± mottled purple, subglobose to compressed-globose, 1–3 mm diam.; hilum encircling 1/2 circumference of seed. 2n = 14.

Phenology: Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat: Roadsides, fields, waste areas, open woodlands, maritime bluffs and dunes, stream­sides.
Elevation: 0–2000 m.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Introduced; Greenland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, B.C., N.B., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Ala., Alaska, Ark., Calif., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., La., Maine, Mass., Mich., Miss., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tex., Va., Wash., Wis., Europe, introduced also in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile).

Discussion

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.