Dense shrub to about 3 m or more tall. Leaves crowded, cylindrical to narrowly lanceolate. Leaflets 5-11, mostly 2-3 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, channelled above, pointed, bristly and dotted with black glands. Flowers solitary to clustered. Petals to 1.5 cm long, violet or blue-marked and with white wings; summer. Fruit pod ovoid, about 4 mm long.

S Africa. Naturalised in WA, SA,Vic, the Sydney district of NSW and New Zealand.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Fabaceae. In: Spencer, R.. 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.