Uraria picta

Uraria picta, known in Sanskrit as Prishnaparni, is an erect perennial undershrub in the Fabaceae growing to roughly 0.6 to 1.5 meters tall on slender, often pubescent stems. The leaves are imparipinnate with 5 to 7 (occasionally up to 9) narrowly oblong-lanceolate leaflets up to 15 centimeters long, characteristically variegated with paler veins or markings on the upper surface. Inflorescences are dense terminal racemes 15 to 30 centimeters long bearing many small purple to pink papilionaceous flowers, each subtended by a deciduous bract. The fruit is a short, curved, jointed legume (loment) breaking into 3 to 6 hairless one-seeded segments at maturity. The species is widely distributed through dry grasslands, open deciduous forests and wastelands across the Indian subcontinent, sub-Himalayan tract to 1,800 meters, and through tropical Africa, southern China and Southeast Asia.