Japan Flora: Rather soft, somewhat pubescent, vivid or gray­green perennial; stems scandent, 80-150 cm. long; leaves nearly sessile, 8-15 cm. long, the stipules bifid, lanceolate, the leaflets 18-24, lanceolate to broadly linear, 15-30 mm. long, 2-6 mm. wide; racemes densely many-flowcrcd, 6-15 cm. long inclusive of the peduncle; flowers bluish purple, one-sided, 10-12 mm. long; lowest calyx-tooth shorter than the tube; legumes nar­rowly oblong, 2-3 cm. long, 6-7 mm. wide, glabrous, several- seeded. May-July. Thickets and grassy places.

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common on hills. Widely dis­tributed in temperate and cooler regions.