Habit : An erect shrubby plant, very twiggy ashy grey all over. Branches glabrous or nearly so.
Leaves : Stipulate, stipules filiform persistent.Leaflets generally 3-5, but ofen 1-3-5 on one and the same plant, alternate, elliptic oblong, more or less hairy above, silvery hairy beneath.
Flowers :
Flowers small, in many-flowered axillary racemes, which are much longer than the leaves.
Calyx silvery outside, corolla red, about twice as long as the calyx, standard densely hairy on the back.
Fruit : Pods very numerous, densely silvery when young, more or less deflexed, torulose, seeds 6-8.
Flowering and Fruiting Time : September-October
Significance :
The root is medicinally used in the inflammation of the liver. The root boiled in milk is used as a purgative.
The leaves are used in hydrophobia.
An extract of the plant is given in epilepsy and other nervous disorders.
