Description: Herbaceous annual or short-lived perennial to 40 cm
(15.7 in.) tall. Stems numerous, ascending or horizontal. Leaves 2 - 10 cm (0.8 - 4.0 in.) long, with silvery pubescence, one-pinnate; leaflets 5 to 11, to 15 mm (0.6 in.) long, elliptic and either blunt or somewhat indented at apex. Inflorescence longer than leaves, with up to 10 flowers. Flowers bilateral (pea-like); sepals fused, 5, pubescent with white and black hairs; petals purple, 6 - 8 mm (to 0.3 in.) long. Fruit a pod (legume), curved into a half-circle, to 3 cm (1.2 in.) long, with short beak, leathery, and strongly veined. Time of flowering: April to June.
Habitat: Occurs in carbonate gravels and derivative soils on terraced hills and ledges, open slopes, and along washes in creosote-bursage, blackbrush, and mixed scrub communities. Elevations: 914 - 1,707 m (3,000 - 5,600 ft).
Range: Nevada endemic; known from Clark, Lincoln, and Nye counties.
Comments: Curve-podded Mojave milkvetch, more commonly called halfring milkvetch, is similar to var. mohavensis but has slightly smaller flowers, and shorter, strongly curved or coiled pods.
Special Remarks: This is a State of Nevada Critically Endangered Species.