It was named after Charles Lewis Anderson by Asa Gray.

[1] This is a small perennial herb forming a thick patch on the ground, the stems reaching about 20 centimeters in maximum length.

The plant is coated in dense gray to white wavy hairs.

The inflorescence is a projecting or upright array of 12 to 26 pealike flowers.

It is coated in very long white hairs and dries to a thick papery texture, the beans inside rattling with the wind.