This introduced annual or biennial plant is 3-8' tall, branching occasionally and having a lanky appearance. The light green stems are round or slightly terete (i.e., furrowed on all sides) and glabrous. The alternate leaves are trifoliate; they are rather sparsely distributed along the stems and have petioles up to 1" long. The greyish green leaflets are up to 1" long and 1/3" across. They are hairless, dentate along the upper margins, and oblong or oblong-ovate. There are a pair of small narrow stipules at the base of each trifoliate leaf's petiole. The middle leaflet has a conspicuous petiole of its own (i.e, a petiolule), while the lateral leaflets are nearly sessile. The upper stems terminate in narrow racemes of white flowers about 2-6" long. The small floppy flowers have a tendency to hang downward from the central stalk of the raceme, and they sometimes appear on only 1 or 2 sides. Each flower is about 1/3" long, consisting of 5 white petals and a light green calyx with 5 teeth. The flower is tubular at the base, become becomes broader toward the outer edges of the petals. These petals consist of a standard, a keel, and a 2 lateral petals; the standard functions as a protective hood over the keel and is only slightly ascending. The blooming period occurs from early summer to fall and lasts about 1-2 months for a colony of plants; this blooming period reaches a peak during mid-summer. Both the foliage and flowers are mildly fragrant. Each flower is replaced an ovoid seedpod about 1/3" long that terminates in a beak and contains 1 or 2 seeds. The surface of each seedpod is smooth or slightly reticulated. The root system consists of a taproot that readily divides into abundant secondary roots. This plant spreads by reseeding itself.