Plants shrubs. Leaves odd-pinnate; stipules small. Inflorescences axillary, racemes with few flowers. Calyx lobes 5, subequal, short; corollas yellow or reddish; stamens 10, the uppermost free, the others united by their filaments; styles thick, tips incurved; stigmas large, partly surrounded by hairs. Pods inflated, indehiscent or deshiscent only near their tips, with many seeds.
Colutea includes about 28 species. They are native from Morocco to eastern Asia. One speices Colutea abyssinica is native in Somaliland. It has not been reported from Somalia.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.