Shrub or small tree to about 5 m tall with pendulous branches. Leaves of 3 elliptic to obovate leaflets; stipules leafy, to about 2 cm long. Flowers to about 2.5 cm long, yellow marked with red; summer. Fruit mostly 5-7 cm long, yellowish, inflated.
Other species occasionally grown include: C. agatiflora Schweinf., Canary-bird Bush, from tropical and C Africa, which has leaves with 3 leaflets and large greenish yellow flowers; and C. cunninghamii R. Br., Parrot Pea or Green Bird Flower, from WA, NT,Qld, SA and NSW, which is occasionally grown in warmer districts and has leaves of 1 leaflet, hairy on both surfaces and dark-streaked greenish yellow flowers.
S Africa.
Source: (2002). Fabaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.