Annual, biennial or short-lived perennial, procumbent to erect herbs. Lvs pinnately 3-foliolate; principal lateral veins thin and straight, terminating at leaflet margin often in a tooth; stipules adnate to petiole. Infl. axillary, racemose, slender and often lax, few- to many-flowered; bracts present subtending fls, or 0. Calyx teeth 5, subequal, the upper longer. Corolla deciduous after flowering. Vexillary filament free or connate to the middle with the others; anthers uniform. Style glabrous; stigma terminal. Pod indehiscent or tardily 2-valved, ± straight, subglobose or ovoid, not armed, 1-2-seeded, rarely more; seeds estrophiolate, smooth and round in N.Z. spp.