A short-lived herbaceous plant with slender creeping, scrambling or climbing stems. Its alternately arranged leaves are once-compound and there is a pair of small leafy structures at the base of each leaf stalk. These leaves (2-10 cm long) have two to seven pairs of leaflets (18-27 mm long and 5-10 mm wide) and usually end in one or more tendrils. Its pink or purple pea-shaped flowers (1.8-3 cm long) are borne singly or in small clusters in the upper leaf forks. Its elongated and flattened pods (3-7 cm long and 6-12 mm wide) are usually somewhat hairy when young and turn brown or yellowish-brown when mature.