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Pea family (Fabaceae)
Perennial with short rhizome. Stem angled, 20-40 cm tall. Leaves arranged helically up stem, compound with 2-4 pairs of leaflets. Leaflets ovate and pointed, of size 3-10 x 1-4 cm, with paler underside. Stipules up to 2 cm in length. Inflorescence a cluster of 3-5 papilionaceous flowers of length 13-19 mm. Calyx red. Corolla purple-violet in colour, becoming bluer later, and ultimately greenish. Fruits are erect, red-brown pods 3.5-6 cm long. Flowers Apr.-May.
Grows on mesic fertile soils. Present in oak-lime-hornbeam forest and oak woodland, as well as in mixed/coniferous forest and only rarely riparian forest.
Descriptions devised by the team at the Independent Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, i.e. L. Witkowska-Żuk, K. Marciszewska, W. Ciurzycki, A. Obidziński and P. Zaniewski
