A member of the pea family, this species grows close to the ground and is a herbaceous, non-woody perennial that produces small purple flowers in the spring, and dies back to the root crown after the flowering season. The plant’s pinnately compound (arranged on opposite sides of the stem in a row) leaves arise directly from the root crown. The leaves are pressed close to the ground, and are 4 to 13 cm (1.5 to 5.1 in) long, and have 9 to 15 leaflets. The leaflets are 0.8 to 1.6 cm (0.3 to 0.6 in) long and are broadly obovate (oval with the narrow end towards the base of the leaf) in shape. The flowers are purple, 1.8 to 2.4 cm (0.7 to 0.9 in) long, and 0.6 to 0.9 cm (0.2 to 0.4 in) wide and have the distinctive pea-like flowers with 5 petals. Flowers occur along the stalk in groups of 6 to 16. The fruits are pods 3 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) long and 0.6 to 0.9 cm (0.2 to 0.4 in) across. The pods retain seeds even after the pods fully open up along the margin. With age, each pod eventually drys out and opens up at both the top and bottom ends (Barneby 1989; Stubben 1997).