Dolichos

Herbs, shrubs or suffrutices, sometimes climbing. Leaves pinnately or rarely digitately 3-foliolate, often appearing after the flowers. Inflorescences axillary. Calyx with 5 lobes, the upper pair fused to form an entire or 2-fid lip. Corolla usually a shade of purple, sometimes yellow. Standard glabrous outside, often auriculate with small oblong cone-shaped appendages. Style swollen, thickened, with a ring of hairs around the terminal capitate stigma. Pods flattened laterally.