Height: 6" -24" (15-60cm). Flower: 1/2" (1cm) diameter; irregular, pealike, yellow sometimes tinged with red; solitary, or several in umbel. Leaves: Pinnate, 5 leaflets, basal pair looking like stipules; entire; alternate. In bloom: June-September. Habitat-Range: Fields, roadsides, waste places; north of a line from Virginia to Ohio.
The common name derives from the palmate arrangement of the seed pods, which resembles a bird's foot, and the three end segments of the pinnate leaves. The cooked seed pods were eaten by indians.