Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous, pubescent perennial, pubescence grayish and appressed, plant erect to trailing or twining.

Leaves: Pinnately trifoliate or occasionally 5-foliate on elongate petioles, with long, slender, oblong or elliptic leaflets with acute or rounded tips, terminal leaflets to 10 mm wide, 15 mm long, leaves bright green.

Flowers: Lavender to fuschia, 2-2.5 cm long, with a rounded banner which rises behind the keel portion of the flower, the banner cleft in the middle; the keel generally the same color as the banner and protruding outwards, often 2-3 flowers in a cluster, arising from the leaf axils on short pedicels. Flowers 2-3 cm long, calyx tubular, with only 4 teeth.

Fruits: Flattened, narrowly oblong pods with several seeds.

Ecology: Found in rich soils in coniferous forests, from 4,000-9,000 ft (1219-2743 m); flowering July-September.

Notes: Look to the calyx with 4 teeth to help identify this genus, along with the purple petals. The similar looking Phaseolus and Desmodium have 5 sepals. The leaf shape can be variable on this species, especially when it is young.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Cologania is of uncertain origin, while angustifolia means with narrow leaf.

Synonyms: Cologania longifolia

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011