Tephrosia purpurea (L.) Pers. Syn. Pl. 2: 329. 1807; Baker in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 112. 1879; Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 24. 1921 (Reprint, 1980); Cooke, Fl. Bomb. Pres. (Reprint ed.) 1: 346. 1958; Ali, Biologia 10: 29. 1964; Sharma & Kachroo, Fl. Jammu (Illustr.) 2: t. 72. 1983; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 268. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 288. 2006; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 10: 191; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 63; Cracca purpurea L., Sp. Pl. 752. 1753; Galega purpurea L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10: 1172. 1759; Taphrosia hamiltonii Drumm. ex Gamble, Fl. Madr. 1: 320. 1918; T. purpurea var. pubescens Baker in Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr. 2: 125. 1871.

Annual or biennial herb, erect to spreading, with a woody base, ridged, 20-80 cm high, much branched, branches densely pubescent. Leaves imparipinnate, 5-14 cm long; petioles 1.5-2.2 cm long; petiole and rachis with adaxial groove, densely pubescent; leaflets 9-17, 1.5-3.5 cm x 0.4-1.0 cm, oblanceolate or elliptic-oblong, apex obtuse, emarginate or truncate, mucronate, base cuneate, glabrous above, appressed-silky hairy beneath; petiolules 1-2.5 mm, densely hairy. Stipules 4-6 mm long, narrow triangular, apex linear, subulate or setaceous, densely pubescent. Inflorescence leaf-opposed or terminal raceme, 2.5-15 cm long, flowers solitary, in pairs or in fascicles in cymes, inflorescence axis densely pubescent; flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, 5-merous, perigynous, 8-9 mm long, purple; pedicels 2.5-6 mm long; bracts ca. 4 mm long, pubescent. Calyx 3-4.5 mm long, campanulate, appressed silky pubescent; tube ca. 1.5 mm long; teeth 5, 2-3 mm long, linear subulate. Corolla papilionaceous, ca. twice as long as calyx; vexillum 8-9 mm long, orbicular, silky pubescent without, auriculate at base; wings ca. 1 cm x 0.5 cm, obliquely oblong or obovate, apex obtuse, claw 2mm long; keel 7-8 mm long, claw 2 mm long. Ovary sessile, pubescent, unilocular, 5-9-ovuled, placentation marginal; style flattened, glabrescent; stigma terminal, penicillate to almost glabrous. Legumes 3-6 cm x 0.4-0.5 cm, sessile, nearly straight or slightly curved, linear, greyish-brown, pubescent when young, (3-) 5-9 seeded. Seeds ca. 3.8 mm x 1.8 mm, suborbicular, brown.

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