Butterfly pea is a short-lived, herbaceous, perennial climbing, scrambling or trailing herb with a strong woody rootstock. It produces slender new annual stems that grow up to 3 metres long from the woody base each year. The stems do not root at the nodes
The plant is harvested from the wild as a food, medicine and dye. It has also long been cultivated, as a medicinal and dye plant; an ornamental for its showy flowering display; and as a soil improver in plantations