Robust shrub with stout main stem arising from stout taproot up to c. 2 cm. diam. Branches sprawling, up to 6 dm. long. Branchlets compressed, plano-convex, (2)-4-5 mm. wide, deeply grooved, at first ± pilose, rounded at apex. Lvs of young plants 1-3-foliolate, lflts c. 6 mm. long, obcordate-cuneate, pilose. Infl. of 1-3, 4-6-fld racemes on short pilose peduncles. Fls c. 6 × 5 mm.; calyx c. 2 × 1 mm., teeth triangular; standard white, purple-veined, with purple basal blotch; keel greenish, purple-veined, auricles rounded; wings whitish, with greenish basal blotch, auricles bluntly pointed. Ovary glab. Pods (10)-15 × 3-4 mm., obliquely narrow-oblong, dark brown to black; beak stout, curved, ± 1 mm. long. Seeds c. 6, pale yellowish, black-spotted, reniform.

2n = 32

Dwarf shrub, with lowspreading and sprawling habit, frequently suckering, up to 0.5 × 1(—2) m. Branches 10-30 mm diameter, stout, horizontal, spreading, sometimes erect. Cladodes 50-80(—100) × 3-5 mm, erect to spreading, linear, striate, plano-convex, rarely terete, yellow- green to green, hairy when young, becoming glabrous when mature, apex obtuse and yellowgreen; leaf nodes 5-10. Leaves simple, present on seedlings and sometimes on adults; lamina 4.5-12.5 × 1.8-4.5 mm, obovate to oblanceolate, fleshy, green and usually with several white blotches on adaxial surface, adaxial and abaxial surfaces with scattered hairs, apex refuse, base attenuate; petiole < 0.5 mm, glabrous, pale green. Leaves on cladodes reduced to scales, < 1 mm long, broad-triangular to triangular, hairy to sparsely hairy, apex subacute. Stipules c. 1 × c. 0.5 mm, free, broad-triangular, hairy. Inflorescence a raceme, (1—)2—3 per node, each with 2-6(-8) flowers. Peduncle 5-10 mm long, hairy, green. Bracts < 1 mm long, triangular, hairy on abaxial surface when young but glabrous at maturity, apex acute to subacute, margin hairy. Pedicel 1.5—2 mm long, hairy, green. Bracteoles 0.2—0.3 mm long, on upper part of pedicel or on receptacle, hairy on abaxial surface, sometimes with glands. Calyx 2.5-3 × c. 2 mm, campanulate, green, outer surface hairy. Calyx lobes 0.4—0.6 mm long, triangular, green and usually flushed red, inner surface glabrous or hairy, appressed to corolla, apex subacute. Standard 7—8 × 7—8 mm, broad-orbicular, patent, positioned in central part of keel, keeled, apex emarginate; central area of inner surface purple or red-purple, margins white, usually purple-veined; outer surface white; claw c. 2.5 mm long, green. Wings 5.5—6.5 × 2.5—3 mm, oblong, broad in distal part, longer than keel, apex broad, obtuse to truncate; inner and outer surfaces white, usually purple-veined; auricle 0.4—0.7 mm long, triangular, pale green; claw 1.6—1.8 mm long, pale green. Keel (Fig. 2C) c. 5 × c. 3.5 mm; distal part of inner surface purple, proximal part white or pale green; outer surface white and purple-veined; auricle c. 1 mm long, triangular, pale green, apex obtuse to subacute; claw c. 2 mm long, pale green. Stamens 4-5 mm long; dorsal filaments connate for c. ¾ of length, outer stamens free for c. 1 mm. Pistil 4—5 mm long, similar in length to stamens, glabrous; ovules 5-8. Pods 8-11 × 4.8-6 mm, broad-elliptic, laterally compressed, usually drooping, light grey to yellow-brown, both valves dehiscent in proximal part, abruptly narrowed to beak; beak 1.5-2 mm long, in a central apical position, stout, more-or-less triangular, pungent-tipped. Seeds 2.5-2.9 × 2.4- 2.6 mm, reniform, 1(—2) per pod, yellow-green or green with black mottling. FL Nov-Dec, FT Jan- May.