Japan Flora: Glabrous to soft-pubescent, glaucous perennial; stems 20-60 cm. long, angular, ascending from long-creeping, slender rhizomes; leaves short- petioled, the stipules obliquely ovate or semisagittate, 15-25 mm. long, very acute, the leaflets 8-12, ovate to oblong or elliptic, 15-30 mm. long, 10-20 mm. wide, acute to obtuse, nearly penninerved, the tendrils simple or 2- or 3-branched; racemes long-peduncled; flowers 25-30 mm. long, purple, rarely white; calyx-teetli lanceolate, the lower as long as to slightly longer than the tube; legumes narrowly oblong, about 5 cm. long, 1 cm. wide, glabrous, several-seeded. Apr.-July. Sand dunes near seashores.
Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common. Throughout the N. Hemisphere.