Climbing or low growing vine, with woody stems, having showy purple flowers in late spring. Flowers to 8 cm diameter. Leaves trifoliate, leaflets ovate to deltoid, irregularly toothed. Petioles hairy, and a few hairs on leaf margins and nerves on back of leaf, top of leaves glabrous. Leaf featured in photograph was 12.5 cm long (including petiole), and 9.5 cm wide. A leaftlet measured at 5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide.

Habitat is wooded areas in the Cypress Hills.

We climbed a tree to measure one plant to a height of 2.7 metres, and saw one in another tree growing to a greater height. Often, however, plants found growing on the ground.

Rare, listed as an S2 by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.

The above photos were taken May 20th in the Cypress Hills, about 400 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.