Japan Flora: Perennial, glabrous, prostrate herb with slender stems; leaflets obovate, 7-10 mm. long, slightly glaucescent, rounded with a mucro at apex, the lowest pair subacute, the rachis 2-10 mm. long; racemes umbellike, long-peduncled, with a ternate involucral bract smaller than but similar to the leaves; flowers 1-3, short-pedicelled, about 15 mm. long, yellow; calyx 6-7 mm. long, the lobes linear-lanceolate, longer than the tube. Apr.-June. Fields and waste grounds.
Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common
f. versicolor (Makino) Makino. Flowers yellow at first, changing to reddish. The typical phase occurs in Europe and Asia.