Shrub or small tree 2–9 m. high, with very short bole, branching near ground; bark on bole dark and rough. Branchlets with short inconspicuous puberulence or pubescence, purplish, soon going grey or sometimes brownish, zig-zag, their epidermis not peeling or flaking away. Stipules spinescent, to 6 cm. long, never inflated; other prickles absent. Leaves with inconspicuous, dull pubescence; petiole 4–14 mm. long; rhachis (5–)10–21 cm. long; pinnae of well-developed leaves of mature shoots 15–35 pairs (reduced leaves with fewer pairs sometimes also present), 0.7–2.2(–3) cm. long; leaflets 1.5–4.5 mm. long, 0.7–1 mm. wide, glabrous or ciliolate. Flowers white or pale pink, in heads; involucel at or above middle or at apex of the pubescent and glandular peduncle. Corolla glabrous outside, 2–3 times as long as calyx. Pods (Fig. 17/55, p. 68) dehiscent, arcuate, glabrous and deep red-brown outside, flat or slightly constricted between the seeds, 8–18(–22) cm. long, 0.5–0.8 cm. wide. Seeds olive-grey, smooth, quadrate or oblong, compressed, 7–9 mm. long, 3–4.5 mm. wide; areole 3.5–4.5 mm. long, 1.5–2.25 mm. wide.
